BORROWING AND THE FUTURE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 17

BORROWING AND THE FUTURE.

, Sir,'—The last £5,000,000 .loan-. may truly bo said to < have delivered NewZealand bound hand and foot' into tlie hands of the British' moneylender. The "Liberals" liavo not . belied their title, lhey have indeed been ."liberal." Tho'. national debt at, the ■ departure from' office of .the. lato Sir--Harry- Atkinson was only "somo ..£37,000,000;-now '.itstands at well over <>£75,000,0001 .Be-, ™j'< ! ldng it -will- have "-equalled or ex-" celled the national debt of Now l South Wales," of some £90,000,000. The last five• millions, placed the capping stoho on a policy, of tho most sliameiful wasto and extravaganc,<;„)yjiiqh 'J\9g t ...J)Mn' i ,iii / force ever since i of; i'h.q Mr. nTho dJominiouiiiiow) stands iii the enviable' - position "of; the man' who is living on his last £1 of borrowed money, after - mortgaging emy_ available" asset.. And who ii'v tlio' late Parliament,"with .the sole exceptio'ii of Mr. Massey and one or two others,have opposed the last shameless act of financial-plunging? The Prime Minister must surely have been, laughing up .his sleeve "when he congratulated his satellites on the successful negotiation of such a satisfactory business!. , .The only people who. can ; possibly,:pfofit are, the British ;, moneylender's," .-.Why was', it necessary, forsooth,-.to, go;- to the British moneylender,- to- borrow mon6y to buy our own" lands hero, when-the: people here aro waiting . with their money ready,to buy them? Would-it not liavo been a saner method for the Government to havo . selected any. land ■to bo cut up, surveyed and roaded it,:, ottered it for sale in lots by auction' and handed tlio owner the net proceeds? It is. lamentable that . .thero.. is. no national-party in the country, with a leader who is capable of taking a broad view, and, above all, endowed with the capacity of forming an alliance between the thinkers—the brain workers of the so-called middle:class, and the workers' of the Labour party. The foolish jealousies, 'tho envy, and the uncharitableness of thoso two classes to each other play into. the. hands of. the land' monopolist and, capitalist, an'd work untold evil.

Ihe Labour'- party, in this country is tile -only sourco from whence can come our help in'time of trbilblc. Yot they are narrow, self^iniariated,-'.jealous, prone to .squabbling alia bickering,. and, as a party, too . inert to educate 'tVem-' selves in those questions. of political economy , which lie at the root of the economic troubles of to-day. They will fight hard, through the clumsy and expehsivo medium of the Arbitration Court, to obtain a'ls. or 6d. rise in wages, and permit the land speculator in rents ajid land values, to rob them of;; tens of thousands yearly; or the capitalist to squeeze £1 for every Is. "'ages; and never murmur! ISew Zealand is crying- out for a National party, capablo of leading her ° ut ,™ e financial slough of despond the Liberal leaders have led her into J. he Opposition will not do—thev 'onlv stend for selfish class interests: tho Liberals have stultified the name bv extravagance, log-rolling, and political chicanery. Can tho Labour party heal its differences, quit, it's jealousies, .educate itself out of its present futile position and bring-, forth a leader worthy' of ] the name? That is our hope, our only hope, for tho'future.—I am, etc., . December 20, 1910. X '