Return Of Assessed Value Of Rateable Property In New Zealand

(Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly, 12th July, 1886).

The serious complaints that have been made of both trade and agricultural depression during the past five years are not reflected in the above figures as much as might have been expected. On the contrary, they show a total increase of not ess than £6,650,000 in the rateable value of our town and country properties during the past three years; and, when we remember that the valuations are practically assessed by the owners rather than by the assessors, we may reasonably infer that, as a whole, they have not been overstated.

Again, upon examination of the published banking returns, we find that there were in Australia and New Zealand on 31st March, 1886, twenty-seven banks of issue doing business in these colonies; that their capital and reserves amounted to £22,064,534, their total assets to £125,984,240, of which £13,941,060 was represented by coin and bullion, and their liabilities to £92,506,003, £86,577,371 of which consisted of deposits. On 31st March, 1881, on the other hand, the deposits with these banks amounted to £58,933,163, so that they have increased by the enormous sum of £27,644,208, or some 46 9 per cent, within five years. These figures show the strength of the chief financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand, and also that there must have been a considerable accretion to the wealth of the colonies as a whole during the five years under review. of the six Banks doing business in New Zealand, three are practically branches, with colonial headquarters in Australia, so that it is impossible to say with accuracy how much of the 22 millions of proprietary capital is allocated to or owned by New Zealand. The official returns for this colony show, however, that deposits in Banks of Issue have increased from £9 293,497 on 3lst March, 1881, to £10.602,934 on 31st March, 1886, or by £1,309,437. It is true this increase is only a trifle over 14 per cent, but none the less it is an actual increase of nearly one and a-half millions, and should help to show that our present position is very far from being desperate. In Great Britain the deposits, including those in the Bank of England, were £512,000,000 in 1881, and £559,000,000 on January 1st, 1886, or an increase only slightly over 9 per cent. These figures approximately make deposits per head in Australia (excluding New Zealand), £28; in New Zealand, £18; in the United Kingdom, £15. Passing to the Savings Bank returns in New Zealand we find that the deposits advanced from £903,765 in 1880 to £1,638,035 on December 31st, 1885, or over 80 per cent.—a result that speakes volumes for the thrift and general well-being of the industrial classes, from whose ranks the bulk of these depositors are derived. Looked at from the same point of view, the following figures lead to the conclusion that the working classes in this country are better off than in any of the three wealthiest European nations.