OUR LONDON LETTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10596, 4 March 1895, Page 5

OUR LONDON LETTER.

ANQLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [FEOM OUB SPECIAL COEEESPONDENT.I London, Jan. 26. THE ATTACK ON ME WAEd’s FINANCE. It has recently become abundantly ap« parent that it is not desirable for the Agent-General to answer any and every attack on his Government’s finance. Instead of settling the issues called in question, such letters merely provoke further discussion and afford unscrupulous enemies and advertisers their opportunity. Sir Westby (as I shall show presently) recently sat effectually on a nasty critic in the Statist, and metaphorically tweaked the nose of the Financial Times anenfc the Midland Railway. When, however, the "Thunderer” itself followed up these onslaughts with some severe criticism, ho paused: Had he been able to foresee the Times article, the Agent-General would have undoubtedly let the smaller fry alone, and reserved himself for it. But, unlike good Mr Steed, he has not a Julia at his elbow to give him the “straight tip” in such matters. Having, therefore, • written twice to the papers within a few days in a defensive attitude, the question became, Was it prudent, or rather was it diplomatic, to go on ? As New Zealand Government stock remained absolutely unaffected, and stood with South Australia’s firmly at the top of the Australasian tree, my view was " Decidedly no.” The truth is this. The price of New Zealand Government stock shows that public confidence in the colony must be growing rather than failing. But there are a number of cliques in the city who have grievances. For example, there is the Midland Railway affair, which has alienated one section of capitalists and the New Plymouth Harbour Board default that rankles with another. The Bank of New Zealand business has caused the colony to stink with hundreds, and so has the Now Zealand Loan and Mercantile collapse. Then there is the Advances to Settlers Bill, which has put up the backs of the Laud and Mortgage Company and the " bears ” of the Stock Exchange, who are naturally trying to lower New Zealand bonds in view of loans to .come. All these persons, for selfish reasons, talk and write New Zealand down, and cause an undoubted amount of mistrust in the city. But the feeling is nob (letMrSeddon thank the Agent-General and his propitious star) general. If it were, New Zealand Fours would not stand at 106 to 107. THE ** TIMES BLTTNBEREE. Some critics of Mr Ward’s Budget are utterly at sea on the point of the Sinking Fund’s relations to the debentures Issued against it. Mr Ward should really add to his budget’s explanatory appendices, tor Sir Julius Yogel'a financial methods are apt. to fog the brains of ordinary financial writers. The Times correspondent, «Finance,” again tries to turn the halfmillion surplus into a deficit of .£17,821 by considering your national balancesheet as though it were the profit “and loss account of a commercial concern. He apparently objects to the 1898, balance being included amongst the receipts for 1894, and also to the £284,500 obtained by debentures issued against the Sinking Fund appropriation. He also girds at land sales being included,. b u t kindly consents to “ thro w them in.” Land sales, he Baya. are not bond jftde revenue. And,. .jetid

Government, by selling land, scarcely exhausts its assets in the same sense that a private land company does, since by selling land the Government converts it into a source o£ revenue instead of expense. Then, too, a private concern would most certainly claim in its balance-sheet a considerable sum for improvements to lands surveyed and opened up by roads, but Mr Ward is not allowed to sweeten his Budget by such means. It might also be pointed out for the benefit of “Finance” and others that, ao far as the bondholders are concerned, the sales of land by the Government to private individuals improves the value of the assets upon which the Government has borrowed money. Bondholders have no claim upon unsettled Crown lands, but they have a claim upon the taxes levied upon such land when it passes into private ownership. So it is hardly for such to grumble at the inclusion of land , bales; in the revenue receipts. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that to criticise a colony ? s Budget’s from a commercial standpoint is calculated to lead one .very much astray in estimating the financial soundness of the country. Mr A. J, Wilson seems to have applied the commercial gauge in most of his criticisms of national finance, with the result that he has found every country in the world to be utterly bankrupt. THE NEW ZEALAND MIDLAND RAILWAY, The Agent-General writes to the Financial. Times, protesting against Mr T. Salt making statements concerning th a -sub judice action between the Midland Railway and the.' Government. He himself declines, on behalf of the latter, to discuss the merits o? the quarrel now that Mr Salt has claimed that it shall he referred to arbitration. The facts which have led up to the present position should, however. Sir Westby considers, be borne in mind, and these ha briefly, but lucidly, recapitulates. “As for the allegation,” he wines up, “that the Government. hag hampered the company in every possible way, the beat answer I can give is that the Government and people of the colony were most anxious to sea the work go forward, and concessions in favour of the company have from time to time-been made by the Legislature. The Agent-General admits there may havo.been misunderstandings with regard to the reserves made for mining purposes, also delays arising from negotiations inevitable’ in a large contract of this sort. It is, however, singularly bad taste on the part of the Chairman of a company which has asked for. concession after concession from the Government to, accuse them now of “wilful obstruction” and “outrageous cheating.” Especially is this unwarrantable when the whole matter is just about to be laid before an impartial tribunal. LOED ROSEBERY AND SAMOA. Whilst the Opposition organs have made the most they could of Mr Seddon’s “severe snnb ” by Lord Rosebery, anent Samoa, the Daily News, Chronicle and » Government papers maintain a significant silence. If they said anything, it would ba that the Premier’s speech at the Guildhall, and subsequent attitude, were even more incomprehensible to friends than to foes. The truth, lam assured by one who should know, was that his Lordship blundered, and made bad worse by not admitting the fact. The St James’s says:— “ The Prime Minister of New Zealand has been talking very plainly to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Alexander the Coppersmith has got the best of Alexander the Great. To make perfectly meaningless points. Lord Rosebery abused the Press, and by implication, the Government of New Zealand. In reply, Mr Seddon remarks that heaping ridicule on New Zealand, to placate Germany, is scarcely calculated to strengthen the’bonds between the colonies and ’the Mother Country. ‘ Just so.,’ comments the editor, ‘and yet Lord Eosebery is really and truly an Imperialist."’ The Fall Mall Gazette adopts a similar tone, winding up, “Lord Eoaoberymay consider himself sat upon.” ' PERSONAL, Mr Willis, M.H.R. for Wanganui, who it over here with his son on a buainesa-cum-pleasure trip, has been doing a lot of useful sight-seeing, inspecting the Mint, the Tower, our lunatic asylums, prisons, &c. He has bean staying at an hotel, hut is now going into private apartments. Mr C. 0. Montrose, whose year in the Old Country draws to a close, has bean invited by Sir George Grey to collaborate with him in a Maori fairy tale founded on a a curious old legend in the right honorable gentleman’s collection.