The Press. SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 1884.

Press, Volume XL, Issue 5809, 26 April 1884, Page 2

The Press. SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 1884.

As might have been expected, a very considerable portion of the Premier's speech, delivered in Dunedin on Thursday night, was devoted to financial questions. He commenced by giving particulars of the objects upon which tho Immigration and Public Works loans raised since 1870 had been spent—bo much upon immigration, so much upon railways, roads, public buildings, land purchase, woiks on goldfields, telegraph extension, and lighthouses and harbours, absorbing up to March 31st, 1883, nineteen millions and a quarter. This statement was followed by a comparison of the expenditure of the loan in the North and in the Middle Islands, with the object of proving that on the mean population for the last ten years of the two islands that expenditure had been very evenly divided between them. We cannot say that we take the least interest instate—.ents of that kind. Such information may be_.considered valuable by tenthrate politicians and a certain class of journals. But the real question after all is: has the expenditure been good in itself or bad, beneficial to the colony, or a loss ? We are not prepared to admit, notwithstanding the exhortations of the persons just alluded to, that the people of this part of the country are'sufficiently degraded to hold the view that money ill spent in their own locality is better spent than if reproductively . expended elsewhere. ...

At this time of day it is hardly worth while to agree or disagree with Major Atkinson as to the value of the public works expenditure. In the course of his speech he produced figures, with the object of proving that that expenditure had on the whole been a great benefit to the colony. He_ insisted very strongly on the indirect advantages of the policy; the roads and railways alone, he maintained, putting over two millions into the pockets of the people, which would otherwise have been paid in the form of extra cost of carriage. For our own part, we cannot see that calculations of that nature prove anything. The broad fact remains, that the policy known as the Vogk_ scheme is the beginning—as wo could have wished it were the end—of our present misfortunes, although no doubt other and temporary causes have had a considerable share iv intensifying our existing troubles. Major Atkinson next dealt with the question of productive and unproductive works. He said he had gone very over the money spent on railways. He had looked into the expenditure on what are called political railways, and he had <x>me to the conclusion that the amount expended would not reach above three or four per cent, on the total sum. Such analysis may satisfy the Premier, but it is not likely to be a source of much satisfaction to those who pay the taxes instead of imposing them. We have .aid that Major Atkinson was at some pains to prove that the public works expenditure had, on the whole, been of enormous advantage to the colony. It .is, therefore, a somewhat remarkable circumßtanco tnat lates-on.—_his speech he showed- .a ■ certain-, amount, .of • eagerness -to lessen" in the - public estimation his share of responsibility - for i the. expenditure in question. The'total [amount, he pointed out, that -he could be said to be ih any way responsible as a Minister for borrowing, or rather for asking the Legislature to borrow, was six and a half millions, of which two millions had not yet been raised; while the Liberal party had, in one-third of the time, borrowed seven and a half millions. Now,'ifthe publio works expenditure has been so very valuable to the colony, why is it that the Premier is so anxious to make it appear that he has been concerned in the borrow* ing of only a small portion of the money ? The Premier's remarks on the depression, which he made at Hawera, naturally gave rise to a great deal of comment throughout the colony. It is satisfactory to find that he never made use of the language imputed to him, and his explana-; tiona on the point are perfectly satisfactory. That one of the causes of the existing depression has been overtrading few sensible people wiß be found to deny. That this has acted in depressing the Customs duties there can be no question. It is also undoubtedly true that mere speculation in land and mining has contributed to the same unfortunate result. Added to this, there has been a large fall in the price o our staple productions, wool aud grain. But though we are suffering a depression from these and other causes, the Premier has a firm belief in the colony and ite resources, and in the | stout hearts and stamina of the people of New Zealand. The best part of Major Atkinson's speech, and the part in which he most nearly approaches his proper position, is that in which he expresses the above sentiments and his firm confidence that if the Government of the colony and its inhabitants pursue a course in which economy, energy and industry are represented, the country has nothing o fear. The great fault we see in this, and in most of Major Atkinson's utterance, is an indisposition to act in the future by the lessons of the reckless past. Everybody ought to know that if the Government of the day look with satisfaction •upon the probable increase of our liabilities, the general run of men, public aud private, will be only too eager to follow them. And when it cornea, as it practicaUy does come, to this, that sooner or later the question must be faced, whether the colony will submit to more or less temporary depression and inconvenience by having to send away- annually at least a million andja half pounds to pay its interest in London instead oi borrowing in London to pay its interest there, we say that—issheduty of the present Government, or their successors, to lead the colony at once into the path of prudence and firmness, in which the safety of New Zealand in the future can alone be found.