THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 39, 26 September 1907, Page 11

THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND

.Shortly before noon to-day New Zealand will shed its old and familiar name of Colony, and take the more imposing one of Dominion. To many of the older generation the change will look like a sundering of the associations that bound them with the past— with the days of stress and hard work which were the lot of nearly all who took a, part in the opening up and development of the country, in the days when railroads, electric tramways, telegraphic communication, telephones, gas, and the many other accessories which pjresent-day progresshas placed at our disposal were either unknown or only utilised in the commercial centres of the Old World. The name^ of Colony- has a familiar and homely ring about, it, and it will take some time, outside of .official circles, . before it is entirely discarded. People say that this is a utilitarian age, and that the age of sentiment is past, but here we have a direct contradiction of the statement. The change effected in the designation of New Zealand is purely a matter of sentiment. The change will not add one cubit to' our stature, it will not increase our resources by the value of a single bale of wool, nor will it induce the financiers of the Old World to' lend us money at a fraction per cent, less than previously. But as a free, self-governing community we shall not henceforth be placed in the same" category as Ceylon, Jamaica, and

other' colonies,' where Downing street, with its red tape, stereotyped ways, and snail-like methods,* controls. public affairs. And even the most sentimental old colonist will" grant that if the change does no at least it 'can do' no harm. And now that we have made a step onward' in k the* matter of nomenclature, it will be well to consider" what we "have done, and what has 'been our progress in other and more vital directions. - Early Colonisation. . ' - The first attempt .at colonising New Zealand was made in 1825, but the enterprise was a failure. In consequence of frequent visits of whaling vessels to the Bay of Islands a settlement grew up' at Kororareka— now called Russell — and in 1833 a British Eesident was appointed there. About seventy years ago a colonisation company, known as the New Zealand Company, was formed in England to establish/ settlement on systematic principles, and two years' later-r-1840 — the "first bqdy of immigrants arrived at Port Nicholson and founded the town of ' Wellington, that has now a population of abo,ut ' 64,000. About the same time Captain Hobson arrived at the Bay of Islands, and; with the consent of the natives, proclaimed the sovereignty of Queen Victoria over the islands. The compact then made has ever since been referred to as ' The Treaty of Waitangi.,' New Zealand was then constituted a dependency of New South Wales, but on May 3, 1841, it was proclaimed a separate colony. Shortly after settlements were made at Nelson and' Taranaki: The next important step in the * colonisation of New -Zealand was the arrival on March 23, 1848, " at Port Chalmers of the first of two emigrant ships sent out by ,the Otago Association for the foundation of- a settlement by persons belonging to the Free Church of Scotland. A year later a corporation was incorporated in England for the founding of the settlement now known as the province of Canterbury. The first emigrant ship despatched by this Association' from England arrived at Port Cooper — now Lyttelton — on December 16, 1850, and was followed* soon after by three others. ' * As may be^ understood, the new settlers had a great^fflanyVdiffi-^S culties to contend with at first, and. little, real progress, either in " the way of increase of population or in developing the resources of the country, was made for some years. 1 „ Increase of Population. < In 1858 — that is, eight years after the founding of Canterbury — the European population of the whole of New Zealand was under 60,000, or a little more than the population of Dunedin and suburbs at the last census. In the following* sixW years the population had trebled, and in 1871 it . exceeded a quarter ,of a million. In 1881 it was getting on towards half a million, and in 1901 it was well on past three-quarters of a . million. The estimated population of the Colony on December 3, ' 1906,' was 968,797, so that' to-day we ought to be, very close on the million mark. With the exception of. the period during ' which free immigration existed, our. increase in population v has been due to natural growth and to the attraction which the Dominion has for immigrants who intend to settle on the land. Our population has not increased with the /rapid strides of Canada, but we can console ourselves with the knowledge that ~ it is more select, and that New Zealand tias been 1 spared the indignity of being made the dumping ground of the helpless, and sometimes useless, slum dwellers of the Home countries.. As it is, N^ew Zealand, has in the last five years secured nearly 52,000 persons, mostly f roih Australia and the United Kingdom, - who have become permanent residents. " Natural Besources. . > It is satisfactory to know that the progress ,in the development of its natural resources has more than kept pace with the growth of population. Fifty years ago, when the population was about 50,000, we had only 121,000 ateres of land under cultivation, including that sown with grasses. This gave only an average of less than two and a^half acres per head of popula- - tion. Twenty-three years later the 'area had increased By a million acres, giving an average ,of five acres to every man, woman, and child. In 1890 it had risen to. close on eight and a-half million acres, which was equal to fourteen acres per • head, whilst in 1900 it had reached over twelve and a-half million acres, and in 1905 over fourteen, million acres, equal to sixteen acres per head of population. In fifty years the number' of sheep in New Zealand l has increased fifteen-fold, horned cattle from 137,000 to over 1,800,000, pigs ,from" 40,000 to a quarter of a million, and horses from 15,000 to. 326,000. ■ It is in our export trade that we find a true index of our , progress. Fifty years ago' our export of wool stood at a little , over 2,500;0001b, valued at £146,000. New Zealand's export of

wool for the year ended, March 31, 1906, amounted to over 144,000,0001 b, valued at r over six million sterling. >In 1856 only 1 66,000 bushels of grain,' valued at &24,000, were exported. In 1901 the quantity had risen, to 13,373,000 bushels, valued at £1,280,000. Since then there' has been a decrease in the quantity, our surplus in 1905 being only 2;282,000 bushels, valued at less than'£3oo',ooo. It was not until 1882, or just twenty-five years ago, that New Zealand began to send Home frozen meat. The quantity sent during the first year was 7 valued at less than £20,000, whilst that for the year ended March "31, 1906, was' worth nearly two and a-half million sterling. We sent butter to the value of £3,837 out of the Dominion in 1856/ and in 1906 it realised nearly £1,700,000,. whilst the 6,000 tons of cheese exported was worth £376,000. Hemp "to the "value 1 of £690,577 was exported during the same year. The^gold produced in 1905 was worth over two millions sterling, -whilst the total gold production for fifty years has been valued at over £67,000,000. Our exports of tallow and timber for 1905 were reckoned to be worth over £2,160,000. The coal mines of the Dominion are a valuable asset, the output from which has increased year by year since records began to be kept. In 1905 the output was 1,585,000 tons. Our total exports of produce and manufactures for .the twelve months ended March 31, 1906, were valued at £16,109,735, which was equal to £17 6s per head of the population, including Maoris. The wool clip, which is our staple export, contributed about 40 per # cent. of this amount. - Savings of the People. As an evidence of the thrift of the people of the Dominion the deposits in the Post Office and Private Savings Banks for 1905 totalled from 316,376 depositors, which shows that one person in every three has an account in such institutions. The interest received by depositors was over a quarter of a million sterling. The net amount added by depositors to their savings in the Government institution during the year 1906 was over a million sterling. The amount at credit of depositors in the Government Savings Bank at the end of * last year was nearly £10,000,000,, representing a sum of close on £11 per head of the entire population and £33 6s 4d to each depositor. The Post Office Savings Bank was established just forty years ago, and since then interest amounting to close on £3,500,000 has b,een credited to depositors. The banking ' institutions doing business here hold over £20,500,000 in deposits. In 1860 a contract was let for the construction of the first New Zealand railway, and up to 1870 there were only 46 miles open for traffic. In 1876 .there were 718 miles of railway in' operation, which by March of this year had increased to 2,458, the total cost of construction of which has been over £23 500 000 this amount forming part of the public debt of the Dominion! Ihe net railway revenue for 1906-07 amounted to £812118 which was equal to a rate of £3.45 on the capital cost It is unnecessary to refer to the progress which the Dominion has made m the matter of telegraphic and telephonic communication The progress of the departments under the Postmasterf niSf - 6en P henomenal - March last there were . nearly 9,000 miles of telegraph line, and over 27*000 miles of - 174Q3 T? P K° De Subscribers at the ««» time numbered 17,403. It may be mentioned here that New Zealand was the ' X fuf -°Y<*«» of probity wUI mart 1 hi. to^ centry" "** **"* ™™ ci by tt for "">>« garter of £ ' of a Th ta^«.°'' a tm(lesma ' 1 is""™* two-thirds that ' tho^nd*'*.^/'. rai ' Way there ™> °™ r two atomt^TE offTth? v S ea? neSS > human lifo is Ladies requiring stylish hats v in the most becoming . s^a^&Sttsr say &?5£3 \^fc CO1 T reh ? SiVe Stock from w »*« to choose In StoS^SSSSf tttß| also; patrous win find ?h " "»«*'