Evening Post. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1879. THE PROPOSED NEW LOAN.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 405, 28 April 1879, Page 2

Evening Post. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1879. THE PROPOSED NEW LOAN.

There are some great public questions on which, it is the duty of all patriotic politicians to sink minor differences, and to unite for the general good. Such was the late European difficulty ; such are now the Affghan and Zulu wars; such, is the present Maori complication ; and such, we may add, is the proposal which has been made simultaneously in all parts of this colony that the present cheapness of money in the Home market should be taken advantage of to float a new Colonial Loan. Unhappily this duty is not always fulfilled by public men or public journals. The reckless and unpatriotic manner in which Mr. Gladstone obstructed the efforts of the English Government to bring about a satisfactory settlement of the Eastern Question will not soon be forgotten or forgiven "by the nation. Even in regard to the Affghan and Zulu wars there is manifested in certain quarters an absence of that spirit of national loyalty which would dictate a thorough support of the existing Government until the public difficulty should be overcome, postponing t until then any carping criticism which might hamper the action of the nation. The conduct of Major Atkikson and his supporters, in the session before last, in reducing the amount of the late loan by £1,500,000, simply in the hope of embarrassing the action of the new Ministry, was an act of disloyalty to the Colony, which will not be easily condoned or readily pardoned. It inflicted a blow upon the welfare of the country, of which we are only now really feeling the effects. Ths

condition of New Zealand would have been very different at the present time had there been a million and a half of additional public money available for immediate and remunerative expenditure on pnblio works, -while it has been clearly proved that the whole sum would have been obtained in London without the alightest; trouble, and on exceptionable favorable terms. This action on the part of the late Ministry should subject them to a long and deserved exclusion from power, and, unlees the present Government make even more mistakes next session than last, this in all probability will be the just penalty of their factious obstruction to the colony's progress. Such having been the conduct on too many occasions of those who ought to hava been animated by a more wise and generous spirit, it ia the more gratifying to find that all classes and parties — their representatives and literary organs — appear to be unanimous in advocating the issue, at 1 the earliest practicable date, of a new Colonial loan. We quoted last Monday an article from the Otago Daily Times, in which this view was urged very forciby, and during last week numerous journals in various parts of the colony, representing different shades of party politics, have expressed similar views. It is earnestly to be hoped that a like unanimity of feeling on this most important question, will pervade all sections of Parliament during the coming session, and that the House of Representatives will not be disgraced and the colony injured by the discreditable and injurious tactics of the session before last. The question is one which closely affects all classes of the community, and there should be a thorough unanimity and resoluteness of determination to carry this new loan by whomever it may be proposed or into whosever hands its administration may fall. The arguments in favour of this course are irresistibly strong. On the one hand there is the cheapness of money at Home, and the marked inclination in favour of Colonial investments, as shown by the remarkable success of the latest Australian loans. On the other hand, the prevalent scarcity of money in this colony, the falling off in the land fund, and the urgent need of pushing on our public works afford the strongest possible reasons for taking advantage of this favorable opportunity, which in these days of rapid change may soon pass irrevocably away. A new loan would relieve the present Bank pre»sure, render money plentiful and ' consequently employment abundant, would enable our railways and other public works to be pushed on, so that those already pajring would become still more profitable, while those as yet unremunerative because imcomplete might become at least selfsupporting, and, if not directly productive, would be so indirectly by opening up new land and facilitating the settlement of the country generally. Whatever may be the political outcome of the approaching Parliamentary session, there ought to be no difference of opinion on this all important question— the desirableness of floating a new public loan at the earliest possible date.