The Ministry and the Financial Position.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 2763, 4 July 1894, Page 2

The Ministry and the Financial Position.

6 The Wellington Post, on» of the strong. . est opponents of the Government, thus , declares its indictment in respect of the 3 present position of affairs:— We have , given Ministers praise for the courage , they disp'ayed when the crisis came. U They faced the danger like men, and i saved what they ooqld, but they are , clearly responsible for the danger and the l neoessity having arisen at all. There is ( no more important duty incumbent upon ) those to whose bands the government of j the country is confined than to watch , unceasingly and searohingly the course p and trend of both the publio and private j finances ,of the country they govern. If ' Ministers had so watched with, unjaun. i diced eyes, the late crisis could never have ' so suddenly' arisen. ' The Bank of New ; Zealand was the Government Bank, and its perfect Bolvency was a matter wbich it waß their duty to be at all times , absolutely assured of, yet we find tbat some^ £825,00) of pnblio money was left in the custody of a hank wbiob, , with its epormous private liabilities , and business, Was in danger' bf at any , moment collapsings unless extraordinary , assistance was afforded it by tbe colony on i demand. Puttin&aside all considerations i ot what the results would have been to shareholders, ordinary olients or depositors, or on the general trade and commerce of the colony, had the bank suspended, we say that Ministers showed themselves ! careless guardians of tbe public purse in allowing matters to reaoh such a condition without some interposition. What baleful ignorance did they not display in putting congratulations into the month of the Governor, at the opening of Parliament, on the condition and prospects of a oolony ' threatened with such appalling disaster as was revealed to them ere even those words were replied to by' Parliament ? We bave tbe Premier's assurance tbat they were utterly ignorant of the existence of the danger when they framed tbe Governor's Speeoh, but in their positron igooranoe of what it was their bounded duty to know must be regarded as little short of a political crime. Of what value could their opinion of the condition of tbe oolony in regard to its most vital interests be, when they were in dense ignorance of such a danger as was closely impending ? How could they know what the colony needed in legislation, or how could they frame catenates ot revenue or expenditure which would be better than wild guesses, when they knaw notbiog ol the danger beneath their feel — thefioanoial avalanohe abont to descend upon the oolony — the earthquake which would haw shaken its commercial., structure to the very foundations ? But ignorance was not even their worst' fault.' They had som* instinctive feeling, no doubt; that something was wrong. The Premier had admitted that they had 1 felt the shadow of a cloud upon the colony for some time. They," bd^e'ye'r, not only failed to ascertain its traeroh&raotor, or the real qaarter from wbioh/i^wajsapproaohing, brit .without justification, in faot in defiance of the clearest evidence, they, to serve thair own political ends, falsely ascribed the mys> terioas depresßJori, wbiob they oonld not al together , ignore, . to. entirely erroneous causes., .The Premier at Foxton a few months Mo t the Colonial Treasurer at Oamarn witbin » tbi. last fortnight* and 'their £ $appDrte>B?,And. organs all over* the colonyjn thointerimj declared that the depression was dffo .(cf the 'tlinrAwfraHui Banks withdrawing money from the colony toY-toteiM! elsewhere; •' Dreadful retaliation was threatened against these Banks. It was in vain that we and others showed.fcyjJieymoot iacont'estiole* figure* and faots ' tbat the aoeffiwiions were

Banks, while prudently maintaining their reserves to meet, an emergency, were s really adding to those reserves instead of reducing them.^ The cry waa raised /or unworthy^ political purposes— to support contemplated finanoial proposals whioh have now, from a totally unexpected source, received their death-blow tod been completely shattered. In view of the disclosures of "Friday night it is now evident how wise and prudent has been he aotion of the Australian banks doing business in this colony, and bow totally *f unfounded .have been the Ministerial 4h accusations bo persistently borVed against them. Had anything really happened to the Bank of New Zealand the colony would have h»d deep ground for grttitudt that the Australian Banks were sound and strong. They apparently knew mora than the Government. What'bti now * occurred must materially affect the policy of tbe Government ; md -. tbe future of the colony for many, yean ; to come. The Government has so far had its policy precipitated that it has got the nuolens^of » State Bank.busriotin^ the way or of "the kind it desir&l and' * contemplated. What it will do to devflb'p ?y that nooleus must be mstter for-futuri '' consideration. The problem will be very difficult to solve, but the solution will probably be a more satisfactory, one thin , Would bave resulted from the adoption of the State Bank scheme contemplated <by Ministers. The credit of the colony to the extent .of two millions, involving.*, yearly liability or 5 . has a^h«J> to be used to assist a monetary institution/ a certain proportion~of-the shareholder! and creditors of whioh reside but' of iB« .. colony, in a way wbich caaool produca.i any 'profit to thr flolony, while it $najK hamper it in regard to tbe obtainmfnt of „. funds for the, proseoutiqa.ot ne«e«iarxr! reproductive works. Altogether, Minijitfrj f " have got the oolony into * pretty mass/ or' 1 at least allowed it to drift into » pb'sitrdfr'- 1 of extreme danger, frotn which it hw only ' escaped 1 by a Rrtat sacrifice. Thequestfdo must suggest itself to all reasonable and thinking beings' whether thote who navf done this, and, arereiponolble for spoh a crisis arising, are the men who can safely be longer left in charge 'of >& ihe ! . interests.of the oolony, entrusted wiftfttr gtfyfernment» and alloweji"^ wntrbTitif finances.' ' Tfie Goveromebt 'is ' xfot : ' id--sponsible for the Bank's difflcuUie*, exoept in so far as its general financial policy may have injuriously affected this bank in common with all other financial institutions, but , Minister! cannot escape responsibility for their ignorance of-tnt. bank's true position, and so being quite unprbpared for itt'effecl on: the' eotony when soddenly disclosed, panic legii |*^an ? being then absolulely naoessary to escape national disaster. ' l " -'» » r -t,