The Hastings Standard Published Daily. FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1896. THE PUBLIC DEBT.

Hastings Standard, Issue 70, 17 July 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1896. THE PUBLIC DEBT.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Is the Financial Statement there is given a table showing the yearly accretions of the public debt, and the figures must have a sail interest for the handful of colonists that people New Zealand. The net debt on the SOth June, 1879, was £21,071,304, while the debt on the 81st March, 1896, was £42,271,889, revealing the fact that in less than seventeen years the debt of the colony has more than doubled itself. The Stout-Vogel Government added £4,677,821 to the debt in three years, an average of £ 1,5 59,273 a year. The Atkinson Government added in four years £8,028,854, or an average of £757,463. The'Balknee Government increased

the debt in two years by £800,762, an average of £400,381 a year. Mr Ballance was responsible for the "selfreliant policy," and that he made an effort to carry out the policy is proved by the smallncss of the figures given above. The Seddon Government added to the debt in three years the sum of £4,127,819, or an average of £1,875,939. The performance of the present Government is therefore almost equal to that of the Stout-Vogel Coalition Government. The increase of the public debt during the past seventeen years has been, as we have shown above, £21,200,585 ; of this amount the Conservative Governments added in nine years £11,594,183, while Liberal Governments are responsible for £9,G0G,402 added in eight years, thus making the average yearly increase by Conservatives at £1,288,242 and by the Liberals £1,200,800, clearing proving that there is very little choice for the electors between the two parties. It can be charged against the Liberals that they are creating a second debt, and we are afraid the charge could be substantiated. By appropriating the Sinking Funds accretions which have arisen by the operations under " The Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, 188 V the Government has seized upon what would under ordinary conditions extinguish the local bodies debts and leave the Government free. The ratepayers are rating themselves to provide these sinking funds, and although the loana will be extinguished so far as the local hodies are concerned,3 the Government having assimilated with the consoliated revenue the funds that should suffice to pay off the loans at maturity must in consequence bear the burden. This means that when the local bodies loan periods expire the loans must be taken over by the colony and added to the permanent public debt of the country. The ratepayers who now provide for these loans by direct taxation will later on have to help bear the interest on these loans by indirect taxation, which is not pleasant to contemplate. The practice of seizing these sinking funds began last year, when £85,210 was added to the revenue, and for the current year £20,000 will be similarly treated. If we take this second debt into account, we must admit that Liberal administrations can claim the credit of adding more largely to the permanent debt of the colony than their opponents. Taking the last quinquennial period to correspond with the census period, we find that while the population has increased by 12-24 per cent., the public debt has advanced by nearly 13 - 3 per cent., and that too without Taking cognizance of the second debt which is being created by the Local Bodies Loan Act. We are increasing our burdens at a greater ratio than we are the backs to bear those burdens. According to the last census the increase in population during the quinquennial period is shown as 7G,702, while during the same period the public debt has increased by £4,928,581, or, to put it in a simpler form, we have added about £GI to our public debt for every man, woman, and child that make up the total of 76,702. These figures have a sad interest for the taxpayers, who ought, however, to be extremely pleased that "our colony is richly endowed by Nature ; its material resources are unbounded and valuable, and the energy, thrift, and perseverance of our people will do much to promote the happiness and prosperity of the most favored and fortunate of Her Majesty's colonies," which is the flattering testimony contained in the Financial Statement.