Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

NEW ZEALAND NOTES.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.!
AUCKLAND. 12th June.
Air. Scddon has been making a tour in
the South Island, following in the wake of
the loader of the Opposition. He has been
talking irrigation, and suggests the using
of water power obtained from the rivers to
sunnlv the electric nower necessary for irri-
gation pumping. In this direction there
is room for indefinite development. The
general use of water power, however, might
have the effect of shifting industrial ac
tivity from the coastal towns to the in
terior. Two or three years ago the Go
vernment obtained a report upon tlio water
forces of New Zealand from Air. Hancock,
a leading electrical .engineer of California.
Air. Hancock reported that a great amount
of" such power was available, and advised
that a beginning with its use should be
made in a small way. The scheme, he
said, should not go beyond tlie commercial
demands for power. Air. Seddon, how
ever, is talking of spending a million on a
power scheme.
The general election campaign proceeds
with vigor, though a session and five
months intervene between now and polling
day. Both sides of course profess to be
sanguine. The Premier says he does not
think there is any general feeling in favor
of a change of Government. There will
be, he adds, changes here nnd there, but
when the numbers go up he expects the
losses on both sides to be about equai.
Such a moderate statement from the Pre
mier on such a matter is remarkable. He
generally takes a buoyant view of party
prospects. The present is the first occa
sion for ten years on which the Opposition
has had any hope at all of victory. The
coming session is certain to be all the more
interesting from the fact that it is the pre
lude to a general election.
There is said to be a slump taking place
in business throughout New Zealand. This
fact will come as a surprise to the world
fofc the reason that it has been proclaimed
from the housetops that New Zealand is
prosperous. For the past, year there has
been every sign of prosperity. Even now
the ordinary onlooker would doubt the
statement that there is depression in the
land. The cry of the unemployed, how
ever, has been beard at Wellington, and
business men there, and at Auckland and
elsewhere, are complaining of slackness iu
trade. Phis falling off has been taking
place gradually for 6ome weeks. There
may have been overtrading; but some of
the traders themselves do not give , that
explanation. They complain that uncer
tainty as to what is to happen in politics
is having a serious effect upon business.
Enterprise is at a standstill. It is quite
certain that the recent announcement of
the Government's land policy has had a
damaging effect. Thnt policy is a procla
mation of war upon the man who invests
his wealth in city or country , lands. No
man or company is to hold city land worth
more than £5U,0(J0, and no man or com
pany to hold more than 5000 acres in the
country. Then the Government intends
to build houses for workmen. This means,
of course, that the money spinner in many
cases must send his money abroad for in
vestment, or lend it to the Government
instead of using it himself to the advantage
of the people. If this were all the Go
vernment intended to promise to get the
Labor vote, confidence in the future for
the man of enterprise might not be lost;
but the question is being asked where the
restrictions upon private enterprise are to
end.
The Government continues to buy up
large estates, cut them up, and offer farms
for sale or selection. The selector has the
choice of paying cash, occupation lease,
with right of purchase, lease in perpetu.ty,
and purchase with deferred payments. The
cutting up of the big estates is the one
point upon which there is no difference of
opinion _ among politicians. The Sclwyn
Estate, in the Earth island, of 165, tiOl)
acres, is to be cut up shortly, and other
big estates have been acquired in the South
Island. When these immense estates, taken
up in the early days, have been repur
chased, the Government will have to deal
with the vast areas still lying idle in the
hands of the Alaories.
J. lie annual report ot the Wellington iwn-
ployers' Association presented this week
contains the following: — "The experience of-
the working of our labor laws proves that
they have not been the blessing. prophesied.
They have not satisfied the unions, lessened
friction or given the employers security.
On the other hand there exists a wide
spread sense of dissatisfaction, uncertainty
and fear. While the whole community
feels the increased cost of living, organised
labor, as represented in the Easter confer
ence, still cries aloud for further concessions
and privileges, and in almost every trade
fresh awards, with higher wages, shorter
hours, &c., are being sought."
The State Fire department is making
strenuous efforts to get all public buildings
upon its books. Some of the local bodies
are succumbing to tlie indirect pressure.
Waihi municipality, for instance, accepted
tbe department's tender at 10/ per cent,
rather than renew with a company at 6/3
per cent. The argument that had weight
with tlie councillors was that the munici
pality was indebted to the Government for
subsidies.
Stirred by the example of Victoria the
New Zealand producers have terminated
their butter freights contract that had two
years to run, and have made a new contract
on favorable terms. The saving on butler
for the next two years will be £25,000 per
annum, and for the following three years
£35,000 ner annum. The immediate reduc
tion on butter is one-eighth of a penny per
lb., and the reduction in cheese one six
teenth of a penny. The new rates are:—
First two years, butter in boxes, five-
eiglrihs of a penny; in kegs, eleven-six
teenths of a penny; tbe following
three Years, nine-sixteenths of a
penny for butter in boxes, and
five-eighths of a penny for lcecrs. This is
net weight, without primage, if the freight
is paid in New Zealand; if paid in London,
plus 2 per cent. Cheese "is to be carried at
OJd. per lb. The temperature of butter is
not to exceed 15 degrees, and of cheese 45
to 50 degrees.
There is some talk of acclimatising tbe
black hear of America in New Zealand for
sporting purposes.
$