The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1911. FACTS AND FANCIES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1236, 19 September 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1911. FACTS AND FANCIES.

It is always pleasant to come across an outside opinion favourable to New Zealand, and especially is this the case when "the opinion comes from a well-informed source and is backed by facts to support it. A few days ago a cable message from Sydney informed us that the Sydney Morning Herald, apropos the latest Budget, had indulged in somo very eulogistic comments concerning the position of New Zealand, and more particularly in respect to its finances. We have awaited with some curiosity the arrival of the issue of our Sydney contemporary to learn the particular grounds upon which it based its opinions, and last night'smail supplied the desired information. It is somewhat disappointing to find that the Herald has not troubled to_ inform itself of the facts, and that its conclusions are in almost every case based op an almost ludicrous misapprehension of the veal position. This is the more regrettable because there are grounds upon which it might have found good reason to extend its' congratulations to the people of Nciv Zealand. One of the errors into which the Sydney journal has fallen in its desire to say something pleasant of the Dominion is in regard to its finances. No one can deny that the revenue last year was enormous, and that the productiveness of the country is very great. But when a newspaper of the standing of the Herald bases its opinion chat tho financial position of the country is "impregnable" and "becomes stronger every year" on its notion_ that tho Government "provides sinking funds for all loans, and is in_ course of extinguishing the Public Debt, which was piled' up so enormously in the bad old days," it is obvious that it has not "really troubled to inquire into the position at all. We only wish that the Government were extinguishing the debtarid that it was in the "bad old days," and not in these good recent days, that the debt piled up so enormously. What arc the facts! The actual amount of real effort at debt extinction during the past year under the now Act was the provision

of between £12,000 and £13,000; but during the same year between £(i,000,000 and £7,000,000 of fresh money was borrowed. If the Herald had been aware of this fact it would probably have paused before it committed itself to the curious statement we have quoted from its article. If it really desires any elucidation on this point wc would refer it to the Budgets of 1910 and 1011, where it will discover that all that the Government has done iu the way of increased effort towards extinguishing the Public Debt has been the additional annual payment stated, which, when read in conjunction ■with the enormous increase in the total debt, does not provide any reason for enthusiasm.

■ And what of "the bad old days" whose evil legacy our thrifty and self-reliant Government is manfully shouldering? "The bad old days" ended, we suppose, in 1891, when Bali.ance took office. The net debt was then £37,343,308, or £59 lis. lOd. per head. Then the good days of selfreliance set in, with this result: Net debt. Ter head. Year. .£ <E b. a. 18% 42,271,88(1 GO 2 1 1901 48,557,751 62 16 10 1000 59,670,471 67 0 11 1911 79,837,388 79 0 0 (Approx.) The net debt for 1911 was rather less than is stated, but we have taken the Budget figures. It will be seen that when the "enormous borrowing" of "the bad old days" ceased, and the new era began, five years saw six millions added to the debt. In the next five years eleven millions more were piled up. Then Sir Joseph Ward became Prime Minister, and the bad old days were put to shame by the addition of another twenty millions to the debt in his five years. We can put the position in- another way: £ Debt left by "bad old days" ... 37,343,303 Added to debt by Ballance (2 years) 800,778 Seduon's addition (13 years) 21,526,401 Sir J. G. Ward's addition In 5 years. 20,166,917 "The bad old days" ! The Herald is no less unfortunate in its reference •to the railways. These, it says, pay 4 per cent., and it adds that nobody grumbles, a fact it considers rather strange and pleasant. This is really very surprising in a journal of the Herald's standing. It has never even been claimed that the railways have ever paid 4 per cent, on the gross capital sunk in them. The past year, 1910-11, is the first in which the net return has even been made to appear to reach 4 per cent, on the cost of opened lines. And even that appearance, as everyone knows, is owing to the use of capital for purposes for which revenue should have been used. There has been a loss of many hundreds of thousands of pounds on the railways sincc the Commissioners were done away.-with. Another remarkable idea of the Herald's is that the "large holdings," despite the "scientific' taxes applied to them, aggregate "about 30,000,000 acres" ! Wc really do not know where our contemporary gets its figures from. The official statistics published by tho Government show that the whole area of the Dominion is only 60,014,770 acres, and that the holdings in private hands, big and little, aggregate only 16,762,402 acres between them... It-is. a pity that the Herald should-'tie so.lill-informed concerning New Zealand affairs. There arc a great many points on which it might well have extended us its congratulations, but instead of seizing oil these it robs its compliments of any value by the quite remarkable ignorance it displays on matters which are fully set out in the public records the Dominion.