The Press. WESNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1890.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7526, 16 April 1890, Page 4

The Press. WESNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1890.

It is now certain that the Government will meet the House once more with a substantial surplus. That surplus will amount at least to £112,000, and may be a few thousands more when the accounts are finally closed. In the Financial Statement of last session the Colonial Treasurer's estimate was that, excluding the Land Fund, the revenue of the year would be £4,187,800, and the expenditure £4,117,331, which showed a balance of £70,469. To this had to be added £27,769, the balance of the previous year's surplus after paying off ,£50,000 of the outstanding debt. This made the estimated surplus at the end of the year which has just closed £98,288. This, we say, was the estimate of the Treasurer. Before the season closed his estimate of the expenditure was increased by various votes, the result being that the £4,117 331 was raised to £4,150,703, thus reducing the estimated surplus to £64,916, Had the estimate of income and expenditure turned out to be Btriotly accurate, the above balance would have been little more than sufficient to pay off the second instalment of the deficiency left by the late Government. As things hate turned out, the Treasurer will be in a position to provide £55,000 towards that deficit, and have a substantial surplus over with which to commence -this year's operations. The details of the Treasury transactions are not yet made public, but we know, at any rate, that the above results have been obtained, notwithstanding the fact that the Customs revenue ie £50,000 less than the Colonial Treasurer estimated that it would be. Hβ calculated on receiving £1,550,000 and only £1,500,000 has been obtained. On the other hand, the surplus of railway revenue has exceeded the estimate by a, little over £50,000, so that the deficiency in the Customs has been made up from the railways. Therefore, as these two items about balance each other, the surplus of over £112.000 with which the year has closed, must be the result of Improvement in other departments, or of savings effected in the administration, or of both combined. !

The great truth wbioh the above figures make plain, is that, under prudent the colony Iβ now to a position to pay its way. We

have had two years' experience, of the efFect of the policy agreed to inlißß7The public works expenditure, although not absolutely stopped, has ceased to materially influence the position. Yet the colony has not, as the borrowers predicted, gradually pined away into insignificance. Instead of this being the case there has been a marked revival in all branches of productive industry, dating nearly from the time when the colony determined to make the experiment of seeyig what self-reliance would do for it. The enemies of prudence are naturally eager to make out that I this revival is in no way connected ! with the altered policy of the country. They are most anxious to show that the two are quite independent of each other. In former articles we have already said enough on this point. All we desire to point out at present is that experience has completely upset the calculations of the advocates of borrowing and squandering. For the last two years we have been spending, as we have just said, a comparatively small sum out of loan, and still the predicted disaster has not overcome the colony. This, we contend, is a great fact to have established. It cuts the ground completely from under the feet of those who may attempt at the approaching election to raise the question of borrowing once more. We admit frankly that we ourselves have been agreeably disappointed. Strong as our faith is in the resources of the colony, we anticipated that the' policy of economy was likely to be put to a severe test for a short time at least, and that the economists might have to fight the battle mainly on the ground of the imperative necessity of facing our position at all costs. This we say is what we regarded as the possible result of the adoption of the new policy. But so great is the productive capacity of the country, that it has undergone no trial at all. As far as the great body of the producers are concerned they are far better off to-day than they were two years ago. Men who were then encumbered have been paying off their liabilities, and many others have substantial surpluses to dispose of. This is the universal testimony of those who have business transactions with the agricultural community. All this has an important bearing upon the approaching general election. The rural districts may be expected to, give the borrowers but scant encouragement. The last two years , experience of the farming community has taught them a valuable lesson, and what is mote they are certain to act upon it. They have the power in their own hands of putting a final stop to any agitation in favor of borrowing which a few selfseeking politicians maj endeavor to create. ■. ' ■ ,

I Had the finances of the colony been less carefully administered than they have been, the cause of the nonborrowers might have been muoh more difficult to maintain. Had there been deficits instead of credit balances, it would have been urged that nonborrowing had proved disastrous, and that a " moderate " amount of borrowing was imperatively necessary. All the old arguments in favor of a "progressive policy" would have been revived, and it is difficult to predict what the result would have been. Had Ministers really been cherishing the idea of returning to borrowing at an early date it was within their power to have rendered a resort to fresh loans a comparatively easy task. AH that was needed on their part was to give way to a slight degree to the pressure for expenditure which always exists. In this way the surplus would have disappeared. That they have adopted quite a different course, is the best possible proof that they are determined to adhere to the line of policy laid down when they took office. Unless we are greatly mistaken the next general election will set this question of borrowing and non-borrowing finally at rest. Although some of out politicians, and an inconsiderable minority of.the electors in certain quarters of the colony, still cherish the idea that borrowing can be made popular, they totally misread public opinion. These politicians have bden so long accustomed to look upon pledges to obtain expenditure for their districts as the safest means of winning elections that they cannot understand why the cry should no longer rouse enthusiasm. The truth is that long before the politicians had realised the fact, the electors were being slowly educated into habits of prudence and economy. They were forced into these habits during the depression, and when the opportunity presented itself, they insisted on the same policy being adopted with regard to the colonial finance. They found the consequences to be satisfactory in their own case, and they now see that when applied to the colony, the remits have also been encouraging. Everything points to the conclusion that after the next general election the party of borrowing will have practically die* appeared.