STATE BANK.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11884, 6 May 1899, Page 4

STATE BANK.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Newfoundland presents an example which ought to be a warping to New Zealand to give up its idiotic system of, getting into debt for fictitious sovereigns, which, the colony neither requires nor receives. The richest man or wealthiest country can come to ruin. Newfoundland has sold her birthrights for a. mess of pottage, and New Zealand is selling hers for a mess of bank blnnderings and debts. The value of New Zealand assets depends on the value of land and its produce. The price of land depends upon the price of its produce. The price of wheat, oats, and potatoes is not half the last year’s price. And there is no reason why the price of wool, frozen and dairy produce should not likewise 'diminish. Then where would be the value of the land and the assets of the colony, and where would the revenue come from? ■ln in article entitled “Ozar , Reid, of Newfoundland,” the “Weekly Press” lately gloated over the triumphs of a hungry mil-,, lionaire. Quoting from “ Black and White,” we are told that “ Newfoundland is to all intents and purposes in the hands of a single man.” . ." . “To convey an idea of the real size of Newfoundland, it might be as well to state that it is a sixth larger than Ireland. But it is doubtful if Mr Reid’s five million acres, were they even in Ireland, would possess the value which that extent of country promises to possess in Newfoundland. For, since the colony, tired of official inertia, and lack of capital, decided to turn over its assets to a private capitalist by means of a measure known as the Reid Contract, it has been discovered that Newfoundland is not only a rich mineral country, but one of the richest on earth.”. . . . “Mr Reid 1 is said not only to have ‘ located ’ nineteen oil wells on his land, but enormous quantities of coal, iron, copper, and asbestos as well.” “ Czar Reid,” as this quiet, unassuming capitalist has already come to be called, has already refused several millions sterling for Ins property, and, in spite of the agitation in the colony to rescind the bargain, there seems every reason to believe that Mr Reid will live to enjoy one of the largest private fortunes of the period, and to acquire a European reputation for his sagacity in exploiting a huge island which was barren when he appeared on the scene.”“At present a : small army of prospectors and surveyors is at work; mills are being built; a railway, four hundred miles long, is being operated ; a fleet of seven steamers . is in process of construction ; in fact, everything is being done which is necessary to exploit so large a domain.” It is to be hoped that the agitation to rescind the “bargain” will be successful. That that colony should be exploited for the benefit of one single man speaks badly for the sagacity of the people or the honesty of their representatives. A few days ago this journal, in an article upon Mr Choate, the new American Ambassador to London, stated that he had been paid a. fee of £20,000 for obtaining a verdict in the United States Supreme Court, that a certain Tecently-imnosed income-tax was unconstitutional. Now, if it is not unconstitutional for a Parliament to sell the assets of a colony to a private capitalist, arid to make him practically the ruler of the country, it ought to be. The American colonies fought the War of Independence leather than submit to be taxed on their tea. But we Australasian colonies keep ’Agents-General whose chief business appears to be to sell the colonies into debt and bondage, so that they may be taxed to provide pensions for more or less wealthy stay-at-home people. The least that the Agents-General ought to do woidd be to receive and’ count out the English sovereigns they are supposed to be borrowing, and to see them safely despatched to the Colonial Treasurers. I claim to have proved in the Parliament of New Zealand that the kind pf thing which has been done in Newfoundland by Mr Reid and his capital, for his own benefit, could be done, by financing the wealth and labour of a nation by means of a State Bank for the benefit of the people, for the increase of revenue and reduction of taxation. The State Bank, question is one of infinitely greater importance than that for which Mr Choate received a fee of £20,000. If I had fought the question in the Supreme Court, instead of in Parliament, arid my opponents had not replied there, the verdict must have been in my favour. Yet those members of the Government and of Parliament who voted with me, and those who voted against me, appear to have entered into a conspiracy of silence to ignore tbe question. I would like to ask if this is not entirely contrary to their Parliamentary oaths? Any elector has a right to an holiest straightforward reply to any question asked of the representative of his district or of a Minister. Any member of Parliament has a right to demand an explanation from those who vote against any motion of importance. To give bank charters to private individuals and companies is to give them the' right of making money. To give debentures anti, land to those banks for the nse of their paper money is to sacrifice the substance of tbe wealth of the people for its shadow. We are mortgaging the taxes for fictitious sovereigns.—I am, etc., .May 2, 1899. J. MILES VERRALL.