Average Bonds.—This subject, which was again prominently brought before the Chamber by a draft form from the Christchurch Chamber, was referred to a Sub-Committee, who reported, "That having given due consideration to the draft agreement furnished by the Christchurch Chamber for the views of this Chamber on the subject, and having compared it with the form proposed by the New Zealand and Australian Underwriters' Association, London, we are of opinion that the latter fully provides for the equities of both consignees and owners, and that in any change that may be necessary to provide security for deposits, an agreed general form, such as that adopted by the above-named Association, is preferable to one of a more local character, and that the practice and experience of Home Underwriters should as much as possible be adopted in these Colonies." Since that date a Conference has been held in Melbourne between the representativas of the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchant Shipping and Underwriters' Association, and the result of their discussion is, "that the form of bond approved of by ' Lloyds' is the form recommended by the Conference for adoption at this Port," and will no doubt be followed throughout these Colonies.

page 8

Law Reform.—Your Committee have been watching with interest for an opportunity of bringing the influence of the Chamber to bear in favour of any movement in the direction of simplifying, cheapening, and shortening legal proceedings in the Superior Courts of the Colony. Whether it is the fault of the laws and rules regulating legal proceedings in the Supreme Court, the Judges who allow the needless adjournments, rules nisi, rules absolute, new trials, appeals, demurrers, arguments in banco, or the ingenuity of gentlemen of the long robe who raise points and work up questions, which so greatly add to the costs and delays, your Committee are unable to say, but the difficulty of reaching finality under the present system is now so great and costly that the matter has become a scandal to the Colony, and it is notorious that many honest and just claims are abandoned simply because the parties either have not the golden key to open the doors of justice, or the inclination to incur expense, loss of time, and worry necessary to obtain their rights. Your Committee were therefore glad to see the appointment last Session by the Assembly of a Judicature Commission, which body has discussed thé subject fully, and agreed upon a report which it is believed contains many valuable recommendations. The Committee have asked the Government to supply the Chamber with a copy with the view of considering it, and if necessary forwarding suggestions before the Bill which the Attorney-General is introducing, founded on the report of the Commission, becomes law. The subject is one of the greatest importance to all classes of the community, and any Government enabled to carry a measure of Law Reform would deserve well of the country. The Christchurch Chamber has taken action in the matter, and your Committee now recommend it to the earnest consideration of their successors. Although in some quarters there may be opposition to the proposed reforms, they are urgently demanded by the country, and your Committee believe that even the majority of the respectable portion of the legal profession would gladly see the reforms as recommended carried into effect. Whenever that is so, many legitimate claims may be brought up for adjudication which are now unsettled and remain in endless dispute, the parties concerned being solely deterred by protracted delays and excessive expenses from entering the Law Courts of the Colony to settle any legal or equitable difficulty.

Trade with Fiji and Queensland.—The trade with these places, which was especially referred to at the last annual and also at the half-yearly meeting, as offering a market for our produce, has been followed up by correspondence with the Chamber of Commerce, Levuka, and some enquiries have since been made through the Union S.S. Company, as to the probability of direct steam communication between Dunedin and Levuka and intermediate ports being established. It was felt that such was indispensable to the opening up of a trade between the southern parts of New Zealand, Fiji, and the surrounding islands, and it is expected that the Union Company may ere long see their way to embrace these Colonies within the limits of their operations.

In Queensland sugars some small shipments have been received via Sydney, which are reported as favourably comparing with those of Mauritius and other sugar producing communities, but no direct trade page 9 has as yet followed. Looking to the largely increasing importations of sugars to New Zealand, reaching to upwards of 16,800 tons for the past year, the Committee think that the time has arrived for the erection of our own sugar refineries, and also for the cultivation of sugar-beet, for which the Committee think the soil and climate of New Zealand are eminently suited.

The following address was delivered by the President:—

Gentlemen,—The remarks I had the honour to deliver to you in February last, no doubt will be remembered by some Members who are present here to-day; they referred more particularly to the first half of our financial year, and I then spoke with satisfaction of the beneficial change which was apparent in our circle of Commerce, I predicted that confidence was being restored, and a more wholesome state of business generally was making a healthy growth among us. I have reasons to-day for confirming my views previously expressed, and while I do not feel justified in congratulating you on the briskness of trade in our City, I may be permitted to do so in regard to its soundness. If we have been prudent and modest in our dealings for many months past, we have not lived without developing to some extent that energy and enterprise which are known to have existence with us. A great number of important subjects have been discussed and considered by this Chamber; some of them I rejoice to say are now bearing good fruit, and to which I shall more particularly refer before I sit down. As the Chamber of Commerce in this City has hitherto been carried on under great disadvantages, chiefly through the want of suitable office accommodation and scarcity of Members to support it, the Committee took decisive measures recently to cure the first difficulty, in the hope that the remedy would act beneficially on the second. Under a constitution subscribed to by Members, a Dunedin Exchange Company has been formed, as referred to in the Report before you to-day, and suitable offices for the Chamber are now being erected. I am therefore in hopes that we will shortly have a considerable accession to our numbers, for liken us unto a bundle of faggots, the more numerous that we can make its component parts the more difficult it will hereafter be to break us asunder. Unity to my mind is a proper watchword for a healthy state of commerce, and I will be surprised and disappointed if the public generally do not take advantage of the facilities now offered to them and become members of an institution where they can meet daily and discuss the events and business passing around them. The wholesale merchant, the retail trader, the squatter, the farmer, the professional man, the artisan, and the mechanic will each discover sentiments and views in common in the Hall of Commerce. It is the intention of the Committee at no distant date to connect telegraphic and telephonic wines with the Chamber, so that Members will have the advantage of receiving the most recent intelligence of an important nature daily from all parts of the world. The subject of refrigerating meat, fish, fowl, dairy produce, etc., by the cold air process for export and sale, has had much attention from the Chamber since we last met, and you will be glad to learn a short history page 10 of the efforts of the Committee in that direction, as also of the practical shape the proposed new industry has already taken in our midst. As an outcome from the labours of the Committee, a Refrigerating Company was formed, with a capital of L20,000, divided into 4,000 shares of L5 each, the whole of which were offered to the public. I will save your time and my own by plainly stating that the Company was successfully floated, and the shares have all been applied for. Machinery of the most approved pattern has been purchased in England, and ere this I expect has been shipped for this city. A suitable site upon which to erect the works and commence operations will be chosen in a few days. Plans for the buildings—which, at the first out-set of the undertaking, will be of an economical structure—are in the hands of the architect, so that I may speak with certainty of the practical establishment of a new and very important industry among us—a scientific industry of such value to a young country like New Zealand, which possesses fine tracts of agricultural lands, with a glorious climate to make them productive, that I am not prepared to-day to indicate, even by estimation, the direct and indirect benefits the fixation of such a business with us will confer on this portion of the Colony. I am, however, satisfied that improvements are being made every week in machinery for freezing purposes, and every day is bringing us nearer to a time when the process will be more closely watched as a near ally and staunch friend to domestic economy. There need be no excuse in the future that dairy-farming, stock farming, and poultry-rearing will not pay. If either occupation be properly managed it will pay with the aid of the Refrigerating Company's machinery to preserve its products. Under similar aid, also, the most will be made out of good land, and as a sequence we may look, at no distant date, to a considerable rise in the value of the landed estate of New Zealand. Members will also be aware of the interest taken by the Committee as a necessary adjunct to the success of Refrigerating Works, in the subject of direct steam communication with Great Britain, and recently, while in Wellington, I was invited by Mr. Macandrew, who is always in the front where progress is meant, to give evidence (which I did) before a Committee of the House then sitting, of which Mr. Macandrew was Chairman, in respect to this important matter. I have since seen published the report brought up by the Committee referred to, wherein strong recommendations are made favourable to a direct line of monthly steamers. It must therefore appear to you to be only a question of time when this Colony will feel a practical beneficial effect from such an advantage. No better incentive to the cause of immigration of the proper kind could our Government give in the present condition of this country than by substantially assisting the establishment of a direct line of steamers to our mother-country. The fact of the arrangement with the contractors of the San Francisco line of steamers being nearly at an end, the present time seems opportune for considering plans for a new service. Although I, for one, would very much regret to find our direct chain of steam communication damaged even in a single link with so great a country as America, no one among us can glance over the comparative tables of imports and exports of our port for the years 1879, 1880, and 1881, as placed before you to-day, without being struck with page 11 the extraordinary anomaly apparent regarding our present trade with

America, and which certainly needs something akin to reciprocity to rectify. During the three years referred to the imports from the United States of America to the Port of Dunedin amounted respectively to £168,081, £93,430, and £106,918, while our exports were nil. Surely the advantages up to the present have been one-sided, and America as usual having been on the right side so far as her interests were concerned, let us fondly hope that the far-seeing, energetic, and enterprising people of that great nation may still consider the small Islands, now well-known to them as New Zealand, with its inhabitants and trade yet worthy of their attention, by arranging to continue a line of steamers between the two countries under their own flag, and thus make signs of a further cementing of the bond of commercial fellowship, and perhaps the slight impress of a step in the right direction of the federation of the world's nations. I cannot pass over my allusion to our trade with the United States of America without referring members to the memorial sent by their Committee to the President of that country on the subject of reducing the duty on wool to be sent from this Colony to America. A reply has been received through the American Consul here, and it is published with the Report of the Committee. I regret that we cannot hope for any early change in wool duties, if at all. Meanwhile, all your Committee can continue to do is to have the matter kept before them, with a determination to make another effort to gain their end should circum-stances hereafter favour their doing so. This question, however, is another one between reciprocity and one-sidedness, and should find a place in the minds of our legislators when dealing with the tariff of the Colony. Members will observe with satisfaction, by reference to the tables furnished with the Committee's Report, that a considerable trade is still done with India, and a much greater with China—the latter being decidedly on the increase, and shews a certain extent of reciprocity; while the former at present takes nothing from us that filters through our Customs. Yet we are warranted in cherishing hopes that a very large trade will grow up between this Colony and India in connection with refrigerated meats, dairy produce, &c. What is wanting mainly to develop such a trade is direct steam communication between that country and this. As with most other events in this age of progress, it is only a question of time when the people of India will look forward with regularity to receive monthly shipments of, and relish at their tables with exceeding gusto, beef, mutton, and dairy produce of New Zealand. The same conclusions to some extent will apply to China, from which country many of its people seem determined to come and judge for themselves as to the fitness of things in the Colonies of Australasia by personal visits and ocular demonstration. Although China is a country of great fertility, owing to its being splendidly watered by magnificent rivers and lakes, and possessing, as it does, two of the greatest rivers in the world, watering respectively country 2500 and 3000 miles in length, the chief exports of its people are tea and silk. Looking however to the intelligence, patience, and perseverance of the Chinese and the greatness of their country, with its varied climate, is it prudent of us among our new and sparsely habited page 12 islands of promise, to shut our gates on these people? For myself, I apprehend not. Far better receive them in a Christian way; treat them kindly; insist upon them strictly observing our laws and customs (in parenthesis let me say particularly with regard to opium); invite them to bring their wives, sisters, and daughters here, and I do not think that we would have anything in the shape of immorality to complain of on their part. If China has hitherto shut out foreign commerce from its shores, foreign nations only help to perpetuate the absurdity by attempting to close their doors against Chinese immigration. Why should we not invite them to a healthy rivalry in a commercial relationship between our respective countries? and if we receive their tea and silk, why should not they in course of time be educated to receive our wool, and use it plentifully in the colder parts of their country? If we persist with other nations in assisting to keep Chinese at home in their own country, do not allow ourselves hereafter ever again to join in the cry that the Chinese are a peculiar people. I had occasion in February last at our half-yearly meeting to refer to the opening that existed in Fiji and Queensland—both countries of warmer latitudes than ours—for doing a large trade with this part of New Zealand, by an exchange of commerce. I am glad to say that a beginning has been made with Queensland by an importation of sugar from that Colony, which promises to be the forerunner of a direct trade being established between the two countries shortly. With regard to Fiji, the Chamber of Commerce at Levuka, as will be seen by a letter here published, of date 1st August, has taken up the question of obtaining monthly steam communication between Levuka and Dunedin, and I believe that the Directors of our well-established and creditably managed local Company have the matter now under consideration. We may safely leave it in their hands; they will not allow trade to go past them that offers inducements to be cared for; and so long as a prudent Board of Directors continue to guard jealously the interests of the Union Steam Ship Company, the trade of our port will not be neglected. We may, therefore, look for the establishment, at no distant date, of direct steam communication between the southern ports of New Zealand and that group of islands in the Southern Pacific known as Viti or Feejee, originally discovered by the Dutch navigator, Tasman, nearly 240 years ago. This Polynesian group consists of more than 200 islands, some of which are Still uninhabited. The total population, however, of colored people and white cannot be far on one side or the other of a quarter of a million souls. The soil is volcanic, exceedingly fertile, and the future trade with them should certainly be worthy of our serious attention. It will become more so when we look to the probability of establishing sugar works in this Colony both North and South within a short period of time, and from these islands we must look for considerable supplies of raw sugar. I trust that members will not have forgotten my remarks made previously as to the desirability of having sugar works in Dunedin, and I hope that some of the gentlemen present will not allow this important subject to be forgotten during the currency of the ensuing year. Members will note with satisfaction the great increase in the output of coal mines in New Zealand during the page 13 year 1880 as compared with 1879. The out-put for last year reaches 300,000 tons, as against 163,000 tons for 1879. And now the colonists generally and the Government of the day, as indicated by the last Public Works statement, are becoming sensible to the fact of the enormous wealth in coal fields of the finest quality for gas and steam purposes, and of inexhaustible quantities, that is merely beginning to be opened up on the west coast of this Colony, and which only requires suitable steam colliers of light draught of water to aid in developing an export trade of incalculable value to New Zealand, which will assuredly expand year by year, as the coal mines of the Old World are fast being worked out. We should take pride in quoting the fact that one of our newly-established Collieries, The Westport, can boast of one seam of coal over seventy feet through, while another exceeds fifty feet in thickness. At an Intercolonial Conference held recently in Melbourne, perhaps the first footprint was taken towards a federation of the Colonies of the Australasian group, and one of the earliest effects of which would be a free interchange of the natural products of each. At present an anomaly exists in the sister colony of Victoria, so far as we are concerned, by the heavy duties imposed on one of our greatest products, grain. Surely time will see this evil eradicated, when our neighbours begin to look more soberly at things as they should be, for if the two countries had to do battle in a "War of Tariffs," I presume to say that Victoria would come off second best. It may not be out of place here to draw your particular attention to our Agricultural Statistics as published in one of the Tables before you to-day. To speak vernacularly, they are really "fetching," when we come to consider that the average yield of wheat per acre throughout the whole of New Zealand for the year 1880-1881 appears 28 bushels; oats, 36½ bushels; barley, 30¼ bushels; potatoes, 5½ tons; while in this Provincial District of Otago the average of wheat per acre reached 31¾ bushels. It will also interest you to note the number of holdings, together with the acreages under crops and English grasses. No wonder then, with results such as I have referred to should we find a gradually increasing demand for land for bona fide settlement, and notwithstanding the sudden cessation of assisted immigration, it is cheerful to find the white population of the Colony rapidly increasing. We are now within 10,000 of half a million of inhabitants, of which the Provincial District of Otago and Southland can claim 134,166 the city of Dunedin and suburbs 46,544. Our Colonial Customs Revenue Returns for the past year are encouraging, and show considerable increase, being nearly one million and a half, of which Otago and Southland contribute one-third. Our southern district has produced well on to nearly one half of the total export of gold from the whole Colony since its first discovery. We may continue to have our periods of panic, depression, and prosperity. I suppose it is well that our sphere of commerce is by times lighted and shaded by sunshine and clouds, but, nevertheless, the facts I have placed before you show increased and solid prosperity, worthy of the enterprise of an intelligent, energetic, and hardy people. The Banking Statistics, as shewn in our Tables, are interesting for a young country with half a million of people to be able to show deposits in hand, not including Government of nearly page 14 eight and a-half millions, and a Note circulation amounting to over nine hundred thousand pounds. Insurance Companies' Returns are also striking, as will be seen by the Comparative Statement here printed. The six New Zealand offices, although younger than those of Australia, show an aggregate paid-up capital of L550,000; reserve funds, L415,000, and dividends paid, L62,000. New South Wales, with eight older companies, exhibits capital paid, L189,250; reserve, L205,000; dividends paid, 24,285. Victoria, with six companies—Capital, L181,003; reserve, L249,000; dividends, L67,800 South Australia, five companies—Capital, L161,000; reserve, L241,000; dividends, L20,499. Queensland, one company—Capital, L18,000; reserve, L12,000; dividends, L1,800,—the dividends of which refer to one year. By the foregoing it must be admitted that the insurance business of this Colony is neither of an undue risky nature nor incautiously managed. On the contrary, the figures speak well for New Zealand. As Parliament is now in session, and has been for some months, it would seem invidious to allow this occasion to pass without mentioning the fact that very little real legislative business has been done. The Licensing Bill has been dealt with, and so also the Gaming Bill, but it is very questionable whether either measures will be workable or meet with the wants of the country. The Colonial Treasurer has held out a promise of a reduction in the property tax, and there are certainly some irregularities in it that ought to be remedied. The enormous vote for Education also requires to be considered, for while the majority of us would desire to see a liberal hand held out by the State in that direction, we are but a young country and cannot afford to be extravagant even in the direction of State Education. Members will be glad to learn of the Commission that was lately appointed to consider improvements in law procedure in our higher Courts with the objects of simplifying and cheapening the process. Let us hope that the labours of the Commission will be attended with beneficial results to the people of New Zealand. Several minor matters, and such as were not of a pressing nature, have had the attention and consideration of the Committee during the last six months—viz., communication with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce upon the subject of a parcel post between India and Australia, the decimal system of coinage, weights and measures—to which special attention has been called by the Melbourne Chamber—and to the Colonial Conference held in London recently at the suggestion of the Canadian Board of Trade. Whilst I heartily sympathise with each of the subjects, I am of opinion that no urgent necessity exists at the present time for your Chamber dealing with them. A question of local importance, however, occurs to me, and which should have our attention without further delay. I allude to a Sailors' Home. Years ago I took some trouble in the matter of obtaining subscriptions to aid in building one, and as a site has been granted for the purpose by the Harbour Board, I think that the time has arrived for a beginning to be made with the Home. I trust, therefore, that the gentlemen who were early associated with the scheme will renew their efforts, so that we may shortly see a very useful and much-wanted institution established at the Port of Dunedin. While on the question of a Sailors' Home, I am reminded of the increased dock accommodation required for page 15 our Port. For some time past our present Graving Dock has been continually kept employed by the boats of the Union Steam Ship Company, and on more than one occasion members have been reminded, in view of a direct ocean steam service, of the necessity of providing a more extensive Graving Dock than the one now in use. Accordingly, the matter has had much consideration by the Committee. A Conference was recently called, at which members of the City Corporation, the Harbour Board, and the Port Chalmers Town Council were present by invitation, when, after discussion, it was decided to send a deputation to Wellington to interview the Government on the subject. As Chairman of your Chamber, I proceeded to Wellington, accompanied by the Mayors of this City and the Town of Port Chalmers, and the Chairman of the Harbour Board, You have already learned that our errand was, so far as possible, successful We received every assistance from the city members and the Otago members generally, and the Government, from the first, seemed disposed to hear an explanation of our wants. We were duly heard in deputation, and after further assistance by the city members and the member for Port Chalmers, the Government agreed to grant us what we asked, and promised to bring in a short measure during this session to constitute a trust, with certain endowments and powers, to enable the work to be done. It is hardly necessary to remind you how important the completion of such an undertaking will be to our Port, and while I may be allowed to anticipate the good work which it is expected will be done to our harbour by the new dredge after her arrival here, I look with much anxiety for her appearance in the waters of Port Chalmers. With a dock 500 feet long and a proportionate width, we will be able to accommodate the largest vessel likely to visit us for many years to come. That the Harbour Board works are in the right direction I feel no doubt, and notwithstanding the strong and unjust declamations of its detractors it is only a question of time the deepening of the Otago Harbour, and which can be regulated by the appliances used for the work, as much so as the emptying of a bag of sand with a teaspoon, if you apply a shovel the latter task will be more speedily performed; and as surely as the evening and the morning of the sixth day saw the completion of the world, so will the evening and the morning of a future time not far distant see the Intercolonial boats steaming to the Dunedin wharves, where they will in the near future discharge and receive cargoes. Before concluding my remarks to-day, I desire to say a few words in reference to the indebtedness of New Zealand; and as our Public Works policy has played an important—and I hope a winning—hand in connection therewith, it may be satisfactory to you to know the relative positions they bear to one another. On the 30th June last our National Debt stood—after deducting accrued Sinking Fund of L2,122,835—at L27,441,176. If we deduct the cost of Railways to present time, L9,599,355, we have a balance of L17,841,821, which has been largely expended in Maori Wars, acquisition of Native lands, compensation to aggrieved Natives, or to those with a supposed grievance, roads, bridges, &c.—say chiefly for unproductive works—against which we have unexpended out of the total debt incurred L1,092,659, which, deducted therefrom, would leave a total page 16 debt of L16,749,162, excepting our Railways, which are now reproductive, paying three and one-half per cent, on cost, with strong evidences of improvement. Not a very frightful amount, looking at the increasing revenues of the Colony, its great natural resources, besides its large landed estate. To be curious and for comparison, let us take the National Debt of Great Britain for 1880 at L774,000,000, which do not include cost of railways, such works there having been constructed by private capital, and are owned by private individuals, incorporated into companies. Let us add the aggregate cost of those works to the National Debt of Great Britain and deal with the figures in globo, we then find other L562,000,000 to add to the sum, which possibly posterity of our Fatherland would have had to face—making a grand total of L1,336,000,000—had the State borne the cost of making the railways of Great Britain. Surely, gentlemen, the financial position of New Zealand is not such at the present time that members of the administration of the Government need feel any alarm in having railway works already begun carried on and brought to a state of completion, and more especially where such works would penetrate into the interior of the Government estate, and would open up and improve the values of vast tracts of good lands that must, failing early settlement, become the habitat of the wild pig and the rabbit. The present state of the Otago Central Railway forces those conclusions on my mind, and, whether my opinion may be in the minority or not, I cannot help feeling that the interests of the City of Dunedin and the trade of its port are being trifled with by the policy pursued by the Government in respect to this great arterial railway. If, instead of wasting time by trying to initiate and legalise a measure to enable the Government to make railways by giving away the estate of the Colony at one-half, and perhaps at one-fourth of its value, in payment for works done, arrangements were made to pay for such works in cash, the Colony would reap a benefit in two ways—firstly, by getting work done more cheaply and better by paying for it in cash rather than in kind; and secondly, by improving the landed estate of the country by opening it up with railroads rather than by bartering land away at a sacrifice, in its rough and unimproved state, with its qualities entirely unknown. It is hurtful and ruinous enough for an individual to barter in kind for whatever he may require, how much more so for a country? If it be the policy of New Zealand to construct its own railways and public works, let that policy be adhered to. If any attempt be made to carry on such works under two plans, although each may be distinct in itself, the one will conflict with the other to the serious detriment of the Colony. Let us be content with one great policy in respect to one great work, and determine that our railways shall be paid for in cash—not in kind, in the shape of land. The District Railways Bill of 1877, I do not think, has proved a successful measure. The Railway Construction Bill of 1881, I think, will prove itself to be no better so far as the interests of the Colony are concerned. I have to apologise, gentlemen, for the length of my remarks, for I fear they may have wearied you; the great interest I have felt in the many subjects referred to must be my excuse. In vacating the office to which you did me the honour of electing me twelve months ago, I would be page 17 forgetful of my duty were I to fail to thank my friend the Vice-President, other members of the Committee, and the Secretary for the great assistance rendered to me at all times in the discharge of my office. It will be necessary before we close the proceedings of to-day to elect a Committee for the ensuing year. I beg to move the adoption of the Report.

Mr R. Wilson (the vice-president) seconded the adoption of the Report. In doing so be said : The Chairman has touched upon so many topics in the exhaustive speech he has addressed to us that it is difficult to find fresh matter to speak about. Perhaps it is that after the scare of 18 months ago he thinks it better not again to refer to the distress that those bad days had for us. However, in a meeting like this, reviewing our improved prospects, it is as well to mention the almost entire absence of failures during the present year. It is true that the usual monthly list of insolvencies appears, but they are of such a trifling character as in no way to detract from the general soundness of trade throughout Otago. I believe the matter of a market-day stands thus. A communication has been addressed to the railway authorities asking them to co-operate with the Chamber in setting apart Wednesday for a market-day by giving return tickets at single fares, as on Saturdays. I think this is a most important thing for the retail trade of the town, as it would probably mean £500 being spent in town on that day. Ever since I have been a member of the Chamber there has always been a debit balance to carry forward from year to year, and I think it is not creditable to a mercantile body that such a state of things should continue, and I hope the meeting won't separate to-day without first wiping this off. Since sitting here I have passed round a subscription-list, which I have headed with three guineas, and from the success it is meeting with I trust the debt will be wiped off before we leave the Chamber. Some people cavil a good deal about the work the Chamber does. I should like to refer them to what has been done during the past year. What I find reason to complain of is the apathy that is shown by a great number of merchants with regard to the Chamber and other matters of interest to the city. There are actually merchants amongst us who have refused to pay the annual two-guinea subscription to the Chamber. This is greatly to be deplored. In Canterbury they pay three guineas subscription, and every merchant in Christchurch, every grocer, shopkeeper, and man of business there subscribes to the Chamber. I wish to draw attention to this matter, and hope that my remarks will be taken notice of. I think it is the duty of every man, and of every business man, to support the Chamber as the headquarters of mercantile business. If any information is wanted it is to the Chamber of Commerce we must go for it, and after what has been done I hope we shall hear no more croaking about the Chamber being of little use. I would like to say a few words about our Chairman. No man ever threw himself more into the work than he has—it is through his energy that so much has been done. Whatever he has taken in hand has been successfully accomplished. For instance, the Exchange, the Refrigerating Company, and the new Graving Dock at Port Chalmers have all been persistingly pushed forward by our Chairman to a successful issue, and I for one would like to see him filling page 18 the post again for another year. The Otago Central railway is a work that should be pressed forward. No doubt the prosperity of Dunedin rests a good deal upon the main central line of railway being opened up, and it is a pity that lines in the North should be put in the same class as the Otago Alain Central. We have here hundreds of thousands of acres of good arable land, and we might say millions of acres of pastoral land—all now in the hands of the Crown. In whatever way the Government take it, this line is bound to pay; whether they give land for its construction, or money, or whatever way they get it done, it is bound to pay in the long run, and I would urge on the citizens of Dunedin the necessity to press forward this great work, for it is our duty as citizens to bring all the influence that we can to bear upon the present or any future Government to complete this work. I hope the Chairman, though he has stated he will not stand another year, will be induced to reconsider the matter, and that you will press him to decide to again act as President of the Chamber. I may say I have never known a chairman of the Chamber who has done so much, or so set his heart upon the work, as our present Chairman.—(Applause.)

Mr E. B. Cargill said : I should like to offer one or two remarks before you put the motion for the adoption of the report. I must say I quite adopt what Mr Wilson has said with regard to the degree in which the Chamber is indebted to your own personal exertions for the manner in which the business of the Chamber has been conducted under your presidency. I think we owe a great deal to your energy, your intelligent devotion to, and your able assistance in the business of the Chamber. And, sir, while I cannot venture to follow you through the very full report you have made upon every subject which can in any way affect the commercial interests of this part of New Zealand, I must say I am greatly at one with you in some of the prominent points to which you have referred. There are just one or two points in respect of which I should like to emphasise your remarks, so far as I can. In the first place, sir, as to your reference to the Chinese question, 1 think the spirit in which you have dealt with that is very much more worthy of what should be the conduct of British people than a great deal that has been said on the subject in the Colony from time to time. We occasionally hear the expression that a thing is "English," or "un-English." I take it, sir, that by so using the word English," we take credit to ourselves for a national spirit of truthfulness and generosity towards others. I should like to know, sir, how that expression fits upon the poor, shabby detraction and cowardly misrepresentation that has been made regarding a few thousands of Chinese. I quite admit that if there was any danger of an overwhelming number of Chinese coming down upon us and occupying our lands so as to prevent our people coming in, it might be an important measure of State policy to prevent what would be a miscarriage of our colonisation. But we have no reason to expect anything of that kind, and while it may be right to take precautions to prevent an undue influx of Chinese; but with regard to those who have come, and those who are likely to come, it would be well to meet them in the truly Christian spirit of your remarks, and not in accordance with what is page 19 expressed by the mouths of some of our representatives and by some of our representatives in the Press. Another matter in regard to which I endorse your remarks is that we should keep our eyes open more fully to the extension of trade in Fiji and surrounding places. We have been too much confined within the limits of our own territory, and it would be of great importance to see enterprise taking the direction of developing the Polynesian trade. That has hitherto been left too much to the Northern part of New Zealand, and there, I believe, a large amount of profit has been reaped from it. With regard to the Otago Central railway, I quite agree with your remarks. It would be a pity to see a great work of that kind undertaken upon a different system to that under which all our railways, with a few small exceptions, have been constructed. It appears to me that one thing only requires to be done, and that is to set apart specifically the value of the land through which the railway must pass, I have never entertained a doubt that if that were done a great part of the difficulty of constructing the railway would vanish at once. I do hope we may be able to see our way to the construction of the railway in that manner, and so get rid of the financial difficulty by which the question is now surrounded. With regard to the Chamber of Commerce generally, it is certainly an extraordinary thing that is stated by the Deputy-chairman—that there are to be found in this city mercantile houses of some standing who decline to support the Chamber. I cannot suppose that it is because of the poor subscription of two guineas that they decline. There must be some other reason, and it would be well to get at it. What would be our position as a mercantile community if we abolish the Chamber? Would anyone say that should be done? Could anyone say we should be doing our duty if we dropped the Chamber of Commerce, and had no means of making our voices heard as a mercantile community? That is what the conduct of the people who decline to join the Chamber must lead to. I trust that in keeping together this Chamber we shall have the unanimous support of all those who have to do with the commerce of the place. There is sometimes, I think, a little mistake in the minds of many persons as to the benefits to be derived from a Chamber of Commerce. It seems to be thought that it is a sort of an institution that can of itself, in some way or other, do work that will benefit the community; but for a Chamber of Commerce to be of advantage, it must be supported by the whole community, and whatever it does must be taken as the act of the community. It will only be useful so far as it is put in motion by the community itself. It is not a privileged body, to perform duties on its own motion; it is an organisation by means of which the commercial community can discuss questions of general or special interest, and by which an utterance can be given which shall be recognised as the voice of the commercial community. Now that we are getting a hall built for ourselves—a hall, which, I think, will be very creditable and suitable for our purposes—I do trust we shall see a general determination to rally round the Chamber, and to make it what it is intended to be—truly a body representing the commercial community as a whole, and obtaining on all occasions their hearty support.

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Mr R. Stout said he did not wish to make a speech, but only to say, in case it might be thought that all present agreed with the remarks with reference to the Chinese question, that for his part he thought it necessary some restrictive measures were adopted. The Colony should see that its civilisation was not crushed out by an inferior civilisation, which he believed the Chinese to be. Though he would deprecate treating any Chinaman once in the Colony differently from any other man, still he thought it the duty of colonists to see that the country was not overran by men of a different civilisation from our own, for they had only to read of what had occurred in other places where the Chinese had obtained a preponderance to see what the result would be. There was one other remark in the Chairman's excellent speech with which he could not agree. He could not agree with the suggestion regarding the vote for education. The money spent on education was, he believed, the best spent money in the Colony, and that it would be injurious if the vote was lessened, or the present system of education disturbed.

The motion for the adoption of the Committee's annual report was carried unanimously.