The Manawatu Standard. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant La Verite. THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1883. A TELLING SPEECH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 168, 21 June 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant La Verite. THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1883. A TELLING SPEECH.

Ipi the debate s on.the Ad Jresss inn Reply, tne^Government received some pretty hard knqckp . from the Opposition, but perhaps the most damaging attack was made by Mr Bathoate. He was very Bevere on the " thinness " of the Go* vernor*B .speech, and: bis denunciation of the Government policy was pungent, argumentative,, and convincing. He alluded toCtheiact that no allusion was made m the Governor's speech to the financial depression which was univfrsal throughout ■ the Colony, which was increasing m intensity week by week, and of the existence of which; evidences were everywhere accumulating- He showed that no mention was made of any pn>posals to afford- relief to a suffering, though patient community. JSfo tinanrcial reform was promised ; nothing to place- a^ solitary hope m ■ meh's '.bVeasts tn'at' though things were continually growing worse,- ;they would 'yet grow better- Acts' 'of Parliaixient and tlaxes did not signify prosperity,, nor would they increase the prosperity of the maeses j the .p.ep.ple .who, .aßked. for bread received- a'■ istone i - i -'a > dry * hash ••of ■ Gon* 1 solidated, statutes., .Prosperity depended more on judicious financial administra!<sb'n' thdti t!h& mere passing of " laws '. He said advisedly that^ th,e v financialadministration of the present Government had proved a complete and miserable failure. verified the. ;prp*erbialisin, " Byvjfoeirjfrmtsveisliftll&now; .them;" r r Thei Government had been. four yea? s in office, and from the day they began, tha -prosperity of the colony had steadi'y declined. Last year they spent half a million m excess of their estimates, and yet they were called careful administrators. Nothing would delight him more than to see a Commercial revival ; but -he, kjoew that m the city of punedin the state of affairs was giving great anxiety. He happened to be one of a company that bad- spent some thousands m prospecting a copper mine at Waihola/r When their overdraft amounted to- a £33oy^-they could get nomore from their bankers,. r They went to another institution and got acc6mmodation, bat no sooner did they do so than the Manager of the Bank of New Zealand,' ;awaf k that / this was a Joint Stock Company of substantial men, with ovf r £4000 ot unc.alh?d capital, without even notice, served them with a writ, and put them to unnecessary expense and inconvenience. ? That, was the way the Bank of the colony treated legitimate entTprise. Grain to* the value ol about a million had been exported dur-:yjfif'-:.the past year, the frozen meat experiment was an established success ; yet m the face of all this there is stagnation of trade, commercial depress, sion, and almost total and universal bankruptcy. They had to consider the damning fact that eyer since those gentlemen took pogsesgioa mof those

benches the colony had not enjoyed a day's commercial prosperity.: There can be no doubt these l) are.r : paid facts. For the past five y«s'ars '« ? wave of fioancial depression has swept over the country, involving thousands m utter ruin* ; - Year- by jyear our banking institutions and insurance companies^ tell the shareholders that the outlook ie brightening. Bat is not the hope delusive ? Things are not improving, commercially speaking ; nor, so far as we can see, is there much likelihood of tbeir improving. The interfsb on our colonial loans is drawing our life blood, and our. noses are r kept to" the grindstone after month. ■ What man m business, will not admit .this fact? Who can see, any -lifting of the.darken-* ing clouds lowering ominously m every part of ; ha colony ? The wh le finaidial posit ma of the colony is m our opinion rotten to the very core. There is no use consoling ourselves with the false idea tint the worst is over. iThis has been asserted for the laot thieeor four years. Our own candid opinion ie that there will be at lt»st a couple.. of. years depression yet. In the interval many; a good man will not doubt §o under. Is it not a sigriificent , fact that go where you will business stagnation is apparent, as evidenced by the fact that retailers are literally giving their goods away, > and importers are forcing business m every line. The colony has been getting over head and ears m debt; local bodies halve been adding loan to loa a ; merchants have been over importing,, and private, individuals have' been unduly speculating, and living and trading improyidently. There will have to be inaugu* rated some veiydirect' reforms m: vari« ous directions before any .improvement can take place. Yet the Governors speech— -or rather the" speech given : h,im by hip' responsible _ advisers ;to; deliver, contained no allusion to these self-evU dent facts, and suggested no alleviation of the -'-universal financial, depression which has Cist its gloom over the whole country. It would fain make us be>« lieve all is_ jirosperous^ hopeful / and sound, whereas the very is the case, arid if Ministers cannot or. will loot recognize the position, and would only inspire delusive hopes.and lullthecduntr^ into a false, impression of security and confidence, the first, reform should' bu a change of Government . i