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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 23

VII.—Increase of Wealth, Advance in Credit, and General Material Advancement

VII.—Increase of Wealth, Advance in Credit, and General Material Advancement.

The material well-being of the colonists may be tested in various ways. One test is the increase in wealth. The mere amount of money deposited in banks is no criterion of the increase of wealth, because the wealth of the colony may not be in circulation. It can be shown by the increase in the number of houses, and the different kind of houses now in existence compared with what were in existence in 1864. In 1864 the total number of houses was 37,996; of these, 25,463 were constructed of wood, 1,082 of stone or brick, and 11,451 of other materials, principally raupo houses and tents. According to the census of 1881 there were 103,335 houses in the colony, of which number 87,646 were constructed of wood, 4,062 of brick or stone, 2,917 were tents, and the remainder were sod or clay huts page 32 and raupo huts. In the towns brick and stone have taken the place of wood, and in the country, in many districts, wood has taken the place of clay and daub. All the houses are being added to and increased in size. Then, money has been expended in roads, fencing, and improvements, as can be seen by the number of acres brought into cultivation since 1864, statistics of which I have given in a previous part of this paper. The furniture in the houses and the clothing of the people have vastly improved during the past twenty years. But even in the accumulation of money there has been an enormous advance. The amount in the savings banks in 1864 was £94,248 6s. 8d.; in 1884 it was £1,926,005. The amount of the deposits in ordinary banks in 1864 was £2,461,166;. in 1884 it was £9,372,004—namely, £6,043,956 bearing interest, and £3,328,048 not bearing interest. And then since 1864 a new mode of investment has been started in New Zealand; I refer to life assurance societies. In 1864 there was little life assurance business done in the colony, and that which was done was in a few European offices. The Government started life assurance in 1869—70; and there is now in funds to the credit of the Government Life Association £972,775 14s. 8d. The Australian Mutual Provident Society of Sydney has done large business in New Zealand, and it has at least £850,000 invested in this colony. There are other Australian companies — the Colonial Mutual, the National Mutual, the Mutual Life—all doing a considerable business. I believe it is not an exaggeration to say that one person in every seven holds a policy in a life assurance office, and I doubt if there is any country in the world that can show, in proportion to the population, such a percentage of insured lives as New Zealand can. This is one means of investing savings.

The value of the personal property in New Zealand that is liable to taxation amounts to £40,000,000; but if the £500 exemption were included the amount would be £53,000,000. The total value of real property held by colonists is £75,000,000; and it is calculated that the page 33 Native lands within five miles of a road suitable for horse traffic are worth £5,750,000; and the education, church, municipal, and other reserves £11,750,000.

Building societies are very popular, and friendly societies are widely diffused. There are fifteen friendly societies, with 18,818 members, in the colony, with funds amounting to £255,371 16s. 11d.; and there are forty-seven building societies. There are various societies also for lending money, and which receive money on loan and deposit, performing the function, in fact, of a deposit bank. I have not been able to obtain complete statistics of this class, but I estimate the capital invested in these to be £500,000.

As showing also the things that have been done for the material well-being of the people, one may take the length of railways. In 1864 the system was only being begun, and that in a very small way. Since 1870 the colony has undertaken the construction of railways, and there are now 1,527 miles of railway open.

Then, another test of the conveniences of civilized life is the length of telegraph-lines and the number of telephones used. The total number of miles on which telegraphs are laid is 4,264, and the number of miles of wires is 10,474. There are telephone-exchanges in the following cities: Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Oamaru, Dunedin, and Invereargill, and there are telephone-stations in other places. The total number of telephones used is 1,961. The postal and telegraph revenue amounts to €284,245. The number of letters carried in the year 1884 was 16,611,959. The number of telegrams sent was 1,654,305.

In 1864 the means of communication between the principal ports of the colony by sea were very limited, principally by small sailing vessels, a few steamers, and an occasional steamer for Victoria, which, calling first at the Bluff, would afterwards proceed viâ Port Chalmers and Lyttelton as far as Wellington, from thence returning to Melbourne. In 1884 the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand had a fleet of twenty-eight fine page 34 steamers of an aggregate tonnage of 39,000 gross register; and the ordinary services of the company include weekly boats from Melbourne and Sydney to New Zealand, and vice versâ, and almost daily communication with the principal New Zealand ports. In addition, there is a monthly service between Auckland and Fiji; and in the latter colony one of the company's boats plies regularly between the different islands of the group. During the summer months supplementary services are run over all the company's lines, and special excursions are made to the West Coast Sounds. In 1884 a new feature was the introduction of midwinter excursions to the South Sea Islands. The company has also now the contract for the mail service between Auckland and San Francisco.

There is also now direct fortnightly communication between Great Britain and the colony by the splendid steamers belonging to the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw-Savill and Albion Company.

It may be noticed also that, with the increase in the wealth of the population, the possibilities of living in comfort have been greatly increased in another way. The prices of provisions have fallen since 1864. The tables in the Appendix No. 2 will show the contrast in the main articles of food. The prices of clothing have also fallen since 1864 proportionately, if not to a greater extent than those of provisions.

Then, the number of miles of streets and main roads made is very considerable; in fact, it may be said that throughout the length and breadth of the colony there are roads constructed. Of course, as settlement increases, new roads have to be made; and in the bush districts they are very expensive.

The number of incorporated towns where gas is used is twenty-seven. The number of towns incorporated is sixty-nine, and the number of town districts, which are smaller incorporations, corresponding, in fact, with villages, is forty-nine. The number of miles of postal routes is 527, and the annual number of miles travelled with mails is 3,295,901.

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Another test is the amount of money-order work done. The number of money orders has increased from 16,592 in 1861 to 186,052 in 1884, and the amounts from £78,557 to £572,666.

The revenue of the colony has been considerably augmented:
1864. 1884.
Revenue £1,712,941 3,955,388
Expenditure 1,522,746 4,101,318

The expenditure has been increased by the fact that large sums have been borrowed for the prosecution of public works. New Zealand has also been placed in a position different from most other colonies, by having had a large war expenditure. The total public debt is €30,649,099, but, of this amount, large sums have been expended in public works, which are now returning considerable interest. The average interest on all the railways opened for traffic was in 1884 3 per cent, on £11,810,194.

No doubt, as the colony increases in wealth, this rate will be considerably increased.

I might, before concluding, point out what different ideas of well-being people in the colony have had. In the early days, when the settlers first landed, few of them were able to obtain even a weatherboard house—a house of sawn timber, with a brick chimney, was not only a great rarity but almost unknown. They had to live in what were called "whares," or huts made of flax or daub. That era has now passed. Even in the farthest outlying settlements a settler is almost able at once to live in a well-built cottage, and it is not long till he demands all the accessories of civilization—roads, postal services, &c.; and as soon as a small township is started it has its own local organ or newspaper.