COLONIAL TREASURER'S BUDGET.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8898, 14 September 1894, Page 5

COLONIAL TREASURER'S BUDGET.

ITS BEOEPTKfi* IN LQIjJDON. [fEOJt 008 SPBCUIi COEKESPOXDfiJrT.] The marked success which attended the Bank of New Zealand operation has tended to accentuate the general feeling of disquietude and resentment with which the new proposals of the New Zealand Government hay* been received in the city. Full details are anxiously waited for. In the original Renter telegram which conveyed the substance of the Budget, there was a manifest error of transcription, for it stated that a further sum of £750,030 was'to he raised by means of a land tax. This is officially explained to-day by a statement that it is not intended to increase or alter the land tax, and that thjs £750,000 is to be raised locally, Maori lands alone being affected.

The' Westminster Gasette •• interviewed" Sir Westby Perceval yesterday with reference to the Budget, but does not seem to have profited much. It says that the Agent-General " sought to minimise in a quiet manner f .he unfavourable features in the Budget," buc that " although he made some reassuring statements he was unable to explain away the fact that the, colonial Government proposes to raise £$,250,000 in addition to the £2,000,000 guaranteed on account of the Bank of New Zealand," and "he smiled," says the Westmijisier t " recognising the point when it was suggested that the object (of compelling'foreign'—including British—lnsurance Companies to make large deposits) might be to obtain a supply of funds at a, low rate of interest." Sir Westby, explained, however, that the reason was that tHfe policy-holders needed greater secr.rity, as-* , some weak Companies were in the field." "Still, after all Sir W B. Perceval's statements," sums up the Westminster, " this fact remained, viz., that New Zealand, which we have so often beetftold did not mean to borrow because there was no necessity, is going to make large demands on the loan market."

And that is what everybody i* saying. There is a prevalent feeling that deception has been practised. So many assurances have been given—not extorted but volunteered—that the colony had. no idea of borrowing, could do without it and meant to avoid it; that the present Government were , resolutely opposed .to a borrowing policy and that the revenue was .enough for. all requirements, that this disclosure of the Budget has produced a very unpleasant revulsion of feeling. " New Zealand is a humbug," one man .remarked, "all thab brag about surpluses and non-borrowing is now exposed and oau be judged at its ..true value. It ia the old story over , again."

Indeed I fear very much the effect of;this lemarkably sudden volte face on the part of your Government has done,- is doing, and will do great harm to the colony's credit. People are sayiug here now that the whole scheme looks li*e provision for jobbery on a vast scale. All this proposed lending money .to farmers, however desirable or justifiable it» may be, as to which I offer no opinion, is looked on here as simply a means of purchasing or influencing. votes. It is remarked tfaatj ac any rate, if any. Government'had such, an idea, this is just the way they would go to work to carry it oafc

Ib is just as well that this should be clearly understood in the colony, because J,he effects are bound to be felt in various ways and the cause ought to be known. You cannot play these tricks on the London money market with impunity, financiers resent anything like a, want of straightforwardness. " Why need the Government have gone out of .their way over and over again," it is- asked, " to proclaim their abhorrence of borrowing when all the time this large scheme of new borrowing must have been in conier.ipUtion, if not actually decided upon?" This will require a good deal of explaining away. At present it ie regarded as a plain casq of gross deception and misrepresentation, and 1 should be very glad to see some satisfactory explanation, - put. ior ward, <- ac thessthings do New Zealand and New Zealanders a great deal of harm in England.* "New Zealand's Revolutionary Budget" is the name the Westminster Oazette gives to Mr Ward's latest fltfencial effort. If understands the New Zealand Government to contemplate an issue of. a million and a half Inscribed Stock in London, as well as a million of Consols in the colony itself, and remarks that " a big policy of exploitation is adopted.? It says, " This seems to be a complete reversal of the cautious policy pursued for some years past;" and adds, '* It appears to us dangerous, and moreover is altogether at variance with the repeated promisee of the Government, some of-which were made only a few months ago.' . It sums up the whole case thus— "This is a revolutionary Budget) and it comes upon us aa a great and unpleasant surprise."