XXIII. INDUSTRIES.
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XXIII.
INDUSTRIES.
Woollen-mills--Breweries--Saw-mills--Steam-plough--Banking--Railways--Debt and Assets.
THE progressive character of Otago may be inferred with tolerable accuracy from the mere enumeration of local industries. The woollen mill of Mr. A. J. Burn, which has been a complete success, has been purchased by a company for the purpose of doubling the production of tweed, blankets, stockings, and yarn. There is also a factory erecting near Dunedin for the manufacture of flannel serge and blankets. There is a number of breweries which produce first-class beer, and a large distillery with £30,000 worth of spirits and gin in bond. The spring which supplies the distillery has been purchased from a famous total abstainer for ever, at so much, and converted into an alcoholic stream. There are foundries and boilermakers: an iron steamer was lately built, and her engines made in Dunedin. Meat-preserving companies killing 4000 sheep and 150 bullocks weekly; boot and shoe factories;
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rope, brick, tile, pottery, gas, candle, and soap works; sash and door factories. The largest concern of this kind is in Dunedin, which manufactures doors, windows, and all kinds of mouldings by the mile. Here the files for sharpening the circular saws are driven by machinery; a touch of this wheel-file instantaneously grinds the teeth to the proper form. Sixty-eight men and boys are employed at the establishment of Messrs. Clayton and Gibbs, and the whole is under the direction of an accomplished Yankee. Americans certainly surpass all other nations in the manipulation of timber, and here the process may be seen in perfection, from a broom-handle to the most elaborate mouldings. There are cheese, confection, and biscuit manufactories; quartz, bone, flax, flour, barley, rice, coffee, pepper, and oatmeal mills, driven by water and steam; collieries all over the country; some are wrought in the usual way, but the majority are surface collieries, which are wrought in the same way as stone quarries; some of the seams are twenty feet thick. There is a clothing factory just opened which wants 300 needle-women at once (see letter of manager at page 105.) There is an agricultural implement manufactory busily engaged in the manufacture of all labour-saving machines, and notably in ploughs with two, three, four, five, and six furrows mould-boards. The steam-plough has been completely superseded by these simple and handy machines; they are drawn by six and eight horses, and the driver sits on the plough and directs its breadth and depth at pleasure. The number of the horses may appear to Scotch farmers a hindrance at the end of the rig, but where a rig is three miles long, that is a matter of small consequence. The friction is reduced to a minimum by the use of a revolving coulter 17 1/2 inches in diameter, sharp as a cheese knife, and in a six-furrow plough the draught is reduced by one-half. There are no stones to blunt the fine edge of these sharp coulters, which shows conclusively how easy it is to break up virgin soil. (See page 60.)
Banking, in a certain sense, is both a general and a local industry, and is the truest register of the commercial and industrial transactions of the community which can be found. In 1871, the
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number of Post-Office Saving Banks throughout New Zealand was eighty-one, of which twenty-seven were in the Province of Otago; 4615 new accounts were opened, and the total deposits (including additions to open accounts) amounted to £357,654, 14s. 6d. on the 31st December of that year.
There are other five banks in Dunedin, viz., the Bank of New Zealand, The National Bank of New Zealand, The Bank of New South Wales, The Union Bank of Australia, and The Bank of Australasia. The head offices of these banks are in Dunedin, Auckland, Sydney, and London. The report of one of these institutions must be taken as a sample of the others, merely premising that it is the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand, and the twenty-fourth report.
The Bank of New Zealand. --"The directors have much satisfaction in announcing the result of the past half-year's operations, which, notwithstanding the increased competition, and the maintenance of low rates during the whole period, justifies them in recommending the usual appropriation for dividend.
| The net profit at 30th September, after making full allowance for all debts known to be bad or doubtful, and for the usual reduction of bank premises and furniture accounts, amounts to.
|
£37,737..17..3
|
| To which has to be added--Balance of undivided profit at 31st March 1873
|
8,654 3 6
|
| Making a total available for division, of
|
£46,392 0 9
|
| The following appropriation of which is now recommended:--
|
|
| To payment of dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum,....
|
£30,000 0 0
|
| To bonus of 2s. 6d. per share equal to 2 1/2 per cent, per annum.
|
7,500 0 0
|
| To balance carried to profit and loss 'New Account,'
|
8,892 0 9
|
|
|
£46,392 0 9
|
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"The dividend and bonus will be payable at head office, Auckland, on Friday, the 24th October, and at the branches on receipt of advice.
"For the Board of Directors,
"C. J. Stone, Chairman"
"AGGREGATE Balance-Sheet of the Bank of New Zealand, at 30th September 1873, including London Offices Balances, at 30th June 1873.
| Dr.
|
|
| Bank Stock
|
£600,000 0 0
|
| Reserve Fund
|
180,000 0 0
|
| Notes in circulation
|
375,169 0 0
|
| Bills in circulation
|
1,351,755 10 5
|
| Deposits and other liabilities
|
3,183,531 1 4
|
| Balance of profit and loss account at 31st March 1873
|
8,654 3 6
|
| Net profit for half-year
|
37,737 17 3
|
|
|
£5,736,847 12 6
|
"The Chairman said: I rise to move the adoption of the report and balance-sheet you have just heard read, and in doing so allow me to congratulate you on the gratifying result of the past half-year's operations, and to recommend a dividend and bonus equal to 12 1/2 per cent. Gentlemen, we hear sometimes of the dulness of trade, but these things, like the showers that pass over our head, are only local when you see our deposits amount to over three millions, our bills and notes circulation reaching over £1,700,000. It is, I think, an evidence of the growing wealth and increased spending power of the colony.
"Dr. Campbell seconded the motion."
BANK RETURNS.
The New Zealand Gazette published lately a general statement of the liabilities and assets of the various banking corporations
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trading in the colony for the quarter ended December 31, 1873. From this we find that the liabilities are:--
| Notes in circulation,
|
£709,305 1 0
|
| Bills in circulation
|
101,578 11 10
|
| Balances due to other banks
|
64,372 1 6
|
| Government deposits
|
1,115,428 13 11
|
| Deposits not bearing interest
|
2,479,180 19 6
|
| Deposits bearing interest,
|
1,412,199 11 1
|
--making a total of liabilities of £5,882,322, 18s. 10d. Against this the assets are:--
| Coin
|
£1,325,797 18 1
|
| Bullion
|
312,857 7 0
|
| Notes and bills of other banks,
|
30,386 9 6
|
| Balances due from other banks
|
52,591 7 3
|
| Landed property
|
145,397 7 6
|
| Notes and bills discounted
|
2,597,476 1 3
|
| Colonial Government securities,
|
157,600 0 0
|
| Other founded securities,
|
3,175 1 6
|
| Debts due (exclusive of bad),
|
3,307,602 7 9
|
| Other securities,
|
526,109 7 7
|
--making total assets of £8,458,993, 7s. 5d., of which coin and bullion amount to £1,638,645, 5s. 1d. There is a further return of capital and profits, showing the total capital paid up of the banks to be £4,350,000, 10s., the amount of last dividends declared £253,750, and the amount of reserved fund at the time of declaration of such dividends £253,750. These dividends were as follow:-- Bank of New Zealand, 12 1/2 per cent.; Union Bank of Australia, 13 per cent.; Bank of New South Wales, 15 per cent.; Bank of Australasia, 10 per cent.; and National Bank, nil.
Water Supply. --There is a Water Company with a capital of £40,000, with which they have constructed a reservoir ten acres in extent about a mile from Dunedin. The water is led through the town in very strong pipes,. The pressure is 150 lbs. to the square inch, and answers the purpose of a fire-engine without the intervention of machinery. Small hydraulic engines are driven with the water on the same principle as the steam-engine, and answer admirably for light work.
Railways. --The greatest work of an industrial nature is the railway scheme of New Zealand. The first work of this kind was
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undertaken by the Provincial Government of Canterbury, and was designed to connect the harbour with the great plain of Canterbury and Christchurch, the capital of that province. The Otago Government also completed the survey of a railway from Dunedin south to Balclutha, a distance of sixty miles, and a private firm constructed the railway from Port Chalmers to Dunedin on a guarantee of 8 per cent, on £80,000.
Three years ago the present premier of New Zealand, Mr. Vogel, propounded the scheme of State railways, by which the General Government of New Zealand undertake the construction of all railways throughout the colony. New Zealand is about 900 miles in length, and 767 miles of railway have been authorized; a large portion of this distance having been already contracted for. The General Government has purchased all the existing railways, so that New Zealand will be able to manage her railway system from a central office in a complete, uniform, and economical manner. This department has been two and a half years under the management of an eminent Scotch engineer, Mr. Carruthers, and is a remarkable instance of rapidity of development and of high organization.
The author of this great work made the following remarks on the indebtedness of New Zealand at a banquet given to him in Dunedin the other day:-- "Because certain gentlemen have chosen to enter upon various problems or speculations as to what might be the indebtedness of the colony in certain circumstances, it has been assumed in some places, and especially it has been assumed outside the colony, that we were ignorant of our indebtedness. Let me take a homely example. If any one of you were called upon to pay the price of a dress for wife or daughter, you would know the amount when the bill was placed before you; but if you had presented to you an infant girl, and were asked to calculate the cost of dressing her from the cradle to a presumed old age-- (laughter)--you would think it a very difficult calculation to enter upon, and, at any rate, you would agree that the possible amount would be very different from the present cost of the child's outfit. (Hear, hear.) But, while making the calculations to which I have referred, as to the indebtedness of the colony, the makers of them
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have claimed the right to speak potentially upon financial questions; and they have insisted upon their right to mix up present liabilities with possible indebtedness for indefinite purposes, when some undefined time shall have arrived. I shall state as briefly as possible what are the facts of the case. The amount of our debt on the 30th June last (after deducting the amount invested in New Zealand securities on account of Sinking Fund) was-- On colonial account, £6,465,900; on provincial account, £3,156,200; or, together, £9,622,100. As far as the provincial indebtedness is concerned, the amount is, no doubt, ultimately a colonial liability; but, at the same, it is secured, primarily, upon the Land Revenue of the colony; and of the nature of that security you may gain an adequate idea, when I tell you that, between the 1st July 1872 and the 20th December 1873, the land revenue of the colony, exclusive of receipts on amount of Gold and Native, amounted to £1,370,000. When you know that in a year and a half the land revenue, subject to the exceptions named, yielded £1,370,000, you need not, I think, be fearful as to a liability of a little over £3,000,000, with such a security at its back. (Applause.) There remained on the 30th June, to be negotiated, £2,352,600 of loans already authorized; thus making a total, when all the loans authorized up to June last have been negotiated, of £11,974,000. Beyond that amount there was required to complete the railways authorized up to the end of the session of 1872, or 767 miles of line in all, £1,886,900; and adding that amount, the total will be £13,860,900. But that is not the amount of our present indebtedness. It is the amount of the debt that will exist when 767 miles of railway have been completed; when £1,000,000 has been expended on immigration; when £200,000 has been spent in acquiring native lands; when £400,000 has been devoted to making roads in the North Island; and when £300,000 has been spent in works upon the gold-fields. Then, but not until then, the total indebtedness of the colony may be estimated at £13,860,900. That debt will include £6,000,000 for public works, of which, at the date I have mentioned, only some £2,000,000 had been expended. When the question is raised, What will be our position when all that money
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is expended? no one is entitled to take the present position of the colony as the sole test, and to ignore the fact that by the expenditure of £4,000,000 on public works during the time that has to elapse, to say nothing of natural and ordinary progress, the prosperity of the colony must be increased, and a state of things be created different from that which now exists. (Applause.) It is absurd to suppose, if anybody does suppose, that a trunk railway through each island is to be constructed for £2,000,000 or £3,000,000. By the time the trunk line is completed, with the various branches already commenced, the public debt must be very much increased; but it will be a misfortune to the country, if you fail to see that you will then have good value for your money, in the immense addition to your population, and the means of traversing the country from end to end which will have been provided. (Applause.) What I have next to say will at any rate not be uninteresting, as an evidence of what we may look for in the future. I have obtained a return of the revenue received during a little less than six months--from the 1st July to the 27th December --together with returns for corresponding half-years. From the 1st July to the 31st December 1870, the receipts into the Consolidated Fund were £474,000; 1871, £485,000; 1872, £494,000; and for 1873, for a few days less than the half-year, the receipts reached £625,000; being an increase over the corresponding period of last year of £131,000, or at the rate of £262,000 a year. I ask you, then, to recollect that if we have to pay additional interest because of an increased amount of borrowed money, we have additional means out of which to pay it. (Applause.) The Land Revenue returns are yet more remarkable, as an indication of the prosperity of the country. In 1870 the land revenue amounted to £194,000; for 1871 it was £230,000; in 1872 it reached £500,000; but for 1873 it was no less than £1,116,000. In fact, the receipts during 1873 exceeded those of the previous three years. (Applause.) Before I leave the question of the financial position of the colony, I will ask you to recollect that the true indication of the pressure of a public debt is not to be found in any mere statement of figures of amount without considering sur-
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rounding circumstances. The mere amount of debt tells nothing; the annual amount which is to be paid as interest tells little more; nor does even the division of that amount amongst a stated number of persons tell anything conclusive, unless you go also into the question of the means out of which it is to be paid. A person who earns £50 a year may be less able to afford to pay £5 than another who earns £70 may be able to afford to pay £10. I speak not unadvisedly when I say that, in dealing with the question of the pressure of a debt, you have to consider first the number of persons who have to meet it, and then the amount of the earnings of those persons out of which they have to satisfy the requirements of the revenue. Then, and then only, you are able to arrive at a fair conclusion. When that test is applied you find that New Zealand does not by any means compare badly with other colonies, or even with large nations. I entered into this question very fully last session, and those who care to study it will find in Hansard a long dissertation upon it. I will now simply state to you a few figures representing conclusions to which I came. Taking the amount of the interest on our debt, exclusive of that for public works and provincial, the charge amounts, as far as I have been able to ascertain, to 1.2 per cent, of the average earnings of the population; inclusive of public works, but still excluding provincial, the annual charge is 1.6 per cent., or, including both public works and provincial, the annual charge amounts to 2.4 per cent, on the average earnings of the population. But I ask you to recollect that in making a comparison with other countries, it is in most cases fairer to take the amount of the indebtedness exclusive of provincial and public works, because from the sale of lands, and from the works, there are special revenues from which to meet the indebtedness excluded. With some exceptions these are not elements of revenue in countries with which we have to compare our public debts; and when we take the amount of our debt, omitting that portion of it which is either charged on the land or is for works which elsewhere are provided by private enterprise; the annual charge is, as I have stated, 1.2 per cent, on the average earnings of the population. If we make a comparison with the
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United Kingdom, we find that the average there is 2.8 per cent, of the average earnings of the population. In the United States it is 2.7; in Russia, 2.5; in France, 2.3; in Austria, 2.2; and in the German Empire, 1."
The debt of New Zealand will require large additions for some years to come before it will amount to even one-half of the expenditure of some of the railway companies in Scotland, and when it has reached the sum named by the Honourable Mr. Vogel, there will stand opposite that debt all the public works of New Zealand for the last eighteen years, and 767 miles of new railways with complete rolling stock, and 70,000,000 acres of land. Any firm or company whose books show such liabilities and assets would be accounted prosperous.
