The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, NOV 21, 1877.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 5228, 21 November 1877, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, NOV 21, 1877.

- - - - ’ ; The . Financial Statement of, the Colonial Treasurer is not cheerful. Ditiqiirding the rosy hues in which his two immediate predecessors delighted, Mr Larnach has piiinted tfie finanqial condition of the Colony in gloomy colours) If anyone, relyirigDn fonder financial pictures, cherished'the fond belief that the Colony has been revelling ina perpetually recurring surplus, that belief must have received! a /rude shock when the newspapers were delivered .... morning |VIr Larnacb, blind to the merits j of . daUa.'w'apftdo a spade ' When he 1 has to deal wit|i ‘a deficit; he doeS not arrange his figures so .as < to-/convert; that deficit into a surplus, even of a tenth of the amoiint which ahbwn on side bfHh*- acciih'nt' i 'With'-W-finescorn‘Df mere brokerage accounts,” he prefers to deal with hard cash. He probably admires, as sincerely as anybody can

ISma tw ° ! |p«.-tr ran llpomMsir yefore; but pi has no tdqlbf npholding f prmbipfo ii' a’mferirihccount which c <KincerDr*uie - raisipg and Expenditure i of a given nm|ber of The i expreaßion.,of‘ l hiß opinion that “ it w ( Jlnofe i° ahow-two flovereigDß , “ where in reality only one w I once * high compUment;; to tto; I artistic genius of his predicflflflOfSj flrio 1 a sign that hia ideas of aefismntß are 1 riot jtheir ideas.’ His ■ ’atathnient and I that of the previous Treasurer i though both based ontheaauie sources f information differ most remarkably i in‘the results’at fwhich they each, arrive. Taking'the revenue from all ources, including thb Ladd Fund, and led it the estimated ex- ~ ienditurei Major Atkinson found him-’ self M the'happy position of predicting 4 surplus, of ,£4'31;150, Mr, Larnacb note searching in > bis - exanpnatipn; read 0 i’i o figures another way.. Comlaring the revenue fromi. all sources, ncluditrg land fund, with nated expenditure, be'.finds himself , compelled to acknowledge a probable deficit of; &%%%s&'. - Major Atkiiison considered that a. fresh loan of two i 'millions for 'wdifks j and other purposes would Be atople for the* year’s , 'requirements., Mr Larnacb cannot see Jhow these -can be provided, for?with iless' tban double the ! sum.; Nothing loan be more thah the diffebetween these resultl.! By. why. lof bringing' the' matter hotrie' to us in 'the most .acute manner, Mr Larnacb | tells us toib af . we‘ go bn as we htc ! 'going, we shall add, 6very day that we live; .nearly two i thousand pounds to iour,indebtedneflßv. *' ; ■ FeW’Who have studied the accounts I of the iast three years will be as- ; tonished to learn that the finances of the Colony are in a mess, though ; probably, the full extent ; of .the I f yli : W[atf not suspected by many, The ! reveiatioh of the Colonial treasurer however; an event’ in the recent history of the Colonial Treasury. It marts, we' hope, the beginning of a; policy...of candour. • This country‘is not by any means over-weighted with burdensi biit it is, nob on the pther band “ flying light ” in the load that it hasrto carry. The weight is jiot easy to bear, it is true, but thoae who bavb to bear it will not find their task made easier by deceiving themselves as to its real extent’. They must find but the worst, and acknowledge it frankly in the open market qf the world; Thus Drily will they be enabled to demise a : sound finaudial policy, and hfc the same time maintain the public credit- Searching examination followed by open confession is the | first step towards financial regeneraj tion, and that; step the Grey Ministry . j have taken. They announce their in-; ij tention of. continuing the work by: I placing the finances on a sound basis ■ How they propose to do it, is easily ' 1 told. Their programme is to fund the i floating debt, to coloijialise the Land •. Fund; to alter, the incidence of taxai tion,: to retrench the public .expendi-; ture, and to borrow for public, works-! i Of these proposals two only are at’ 5 present definite,, These are the pro-1 5 ppsals concerning the new loan and. 1 Land DFuti d. The first of these is | 80uud,fi.Qance. Half the loan will be i for public works, and for the redemp- ’ tion of the Imperial guaranteed debentures, both of .which purposes every one will admit.to be necessary. ’ The 1 other half is designed to make permanent those debts which are erroneously supposed to be temporary. It is high time that the £832,000 of Treasury Bills which are never met, and the £300,000 due to the public account which is never paid, bub ever oscillating ia an atmosphere of deceit provided for it by Act of Parliament^ were added to the acknowledged indebtedness of the proposal to fund the, floating debt ’ included provision for dealing in the same way with the million borrowed from the Banks, tbir portion of the V Treasurer’s policy would be perfect. Mir Larnacb’s proposal to treat the , land fund as the property of the Colony ought not to occasion any surprise. It is the inevitable result of Provincial Abolition. The guardiana. J of the province were removed when • that alteration was made in the con- . stilutipn, and the Coldny has, as Mr . Larnach puts it, “ been permitted V ever since ir to drift into circutu- ' “ stances ” which are pot pleasing to - it:- h«8 beeh long evident that the, land fund has , bpen, goingj by vj incbes;.. .The. chief: recommendation of Mr Larnaoh’s pro- ; posal to. take it altogether is ,|ts honesty. He very, openly says that the Colony cannot get on without it, and must have it. There is no mistake about such , a . demand. The , people of Canterbury will no doubt be expected to accede to it, on —to use ,a 1 current phrase-—“ broad and liberal ; .‘‘ grounds.” But the proposal cannot be considered at present on Such ■ grounds; because the companion pro- . posals of the Treasurer —those con T [ corning retrenchment and taxation—- ■ are, the one in embryo, and the other somewhat too suggestive. Until 1 an approximate idea can be given of the probable extent to which ■ retrenchment can be effected,; tjie whole of the possibilities of the Colonial • finances cannot be known. But given i the greatest possible amount ot re- - trenchment as yet we know only j of reductions in the salaries of Minis- , ters and sfche ■ contemplated sale ot] a I steamer—there is reason to fear trom r the Treasurer’s .reference to future • taxation that he contemplates using I the land fund to some extent for the purposes to which the ordinary revenue , of the country ought alone to he i devoted. Mir Larnach, in speaking of » the taxation of the future apprehended i* ‘‘’that 1 should our - land - receipts f '“keep up, it will not be necessaryjto i “ attempt to raise a larger revenue i “ from the people than is now drawn j “ from them.” This looks os if the i ordinary expenditure of the country t were in port to he met but of the Land I Fund. ■ TJpbn this point-thb Treasurer f should 'feave*-been ’ ntora explicit. If s bis intention really is to use the Land f Fund, which ia capital, to do the i work of income, his policy is short-

sighted. A hand, to I for the purpose M , country more capapij ]iw 1 burdens by P| ,0^a ® t ' i T®* ness, ia, apart from the% queation 1 of fairness to localities, adund finance. , The Government proposar taOblonialise IBFEand He 1 foff Idealising, by statute, one-fifth of 'tit# mount raised, and another for a amform land law. under whieh laad ie tp be sold tbrbugho»t^ho : Colony at Uniform prices, aubject to These provisionswill certainly lessen the evil to which Canterbury ia asked to. .submit. But before submitting Willingly to that evil-—the great evil of losing the major" portion of - the land fund—for the purpose of assisting the Colony* in its peDit6rbury iseiititled to aek what the Colony is going, to do with tho,land/fno'd 1 -to Use it as reproductive capital or consume it as, i a gradually diminishing income’? ■■ ■ , : ‘ f . --f — i rn? '• .I rr~“'