The Melson Guening Mail. WEDNESDAY, MAKCH 7, 1.866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 3, 7 March 1866, Page 2

The Melson Guening Mail. WEDNESDAY, MAKCH 7, 1.866.

I•• ■ — The * Otago,' which left Sydney on the 16th February, brings us the intelligence that at last the New South Wales financial difficulty seems likely : to be overcome, and that the income there will once more cover the expenditure. It may be instructive to review the causes which brought that colony to such a low financial position, and see if those causes which operated so disastrously there may not be equally active here. At the period of the gold discovery in New South Wales that colony was probably the lightest taxed country in the world. Its maguificent pastoral domain gave. it so large a revenue that it was duly." necessary to impose some light customs duties upon a few articles of general consumption, . to raise sufficient revenue to pay-all the expenses of the Government. The only other taxes were the municipal rates of the City of Sydney, the simplicity of its tariff rendered Sydney almost a free port. It is true, that very few public works were undertaken but the sparseness of the population rendered few necessary. The inauguration of responsible. Government soon brought about a great change. Ministers finding it necessary to conciliate their supporters, were induced to provide well paid appointments for their friends. Places were frequently; created specially for that object. This even went so far that at. last it became a recognised understanding out of doors — that support in the house was to be rewarded by such means, and sometimes even by a personar appointment to the obedient member, who resigned his seat to receive it. This undermined the integrity of the representatives of the people. About 1854, Mr. Cowper proposed that the sum of should be expended upon the main roads of the colony. No expenditure could be more required than this— but the consequences resulting therefrom have been disastrous in the extreme. From that time there commenced a scramble by the various constituencies to obtain as large a grant as possible for local works in their particular .districts. When a member visited his "constituents to . give an account of his stewardship,- the question always asked 1 was— how; much money liave you got for bur roads and bridges; the . wisdom, consistency, or integrity of his conduct was not thought of for a moment. We once tnew of an instance where a deputation of electors told a ntiember, that unless he ob-

;ta)ned> £3,000 from the treasury, for a certain bridge, he need not seek re-election at -their; hands. ■ While these causes were at work undermining the publ'c morality, a demand arose throughout the land for the extension of railroads. . About 1856, one. question aiwaysput to candidates was, if he was in favor pf extending them throughout the country. Everyone, no matter how ignorant he might be, had his own ideas upon this subject. We i-ecollect upon one occasion at Singleton an - elector, who had his own rather .misty. ideas concerning them, asked the candidate what was the difference between a railroad and a " ramrod " — perhaps tie meant, a "tramroad." These railroads however, and many other public works, were carried on with borrowed money. Thus in the space of a few years has a large debt amounting to. several ..millions, accumulated, the interest of which has for some years been a heavy charge upon the revenue, which during several disastrous seasons, declined considerably, until such a. deficit resulted, that, the various banking accounts were overdrawn ,t.o the tune of £800,000. Hence the financial difficulty of which we Have heard so much of late.' : It seems that the inhabitants of the various parts of the colony are at last awakened to the necessity of doing away with the potent cause of so much mischief, by enforcing the establishment of local governments to carry on all local improvements, to be paid by a rate levied , upon the proporties around. There seems also a prospect of the product of the recently imposed ad valorem duties being set aside, for the reduction of the debt. Many members have repeatedly advocated the setting aside the whole of the land revenue to form a sinking fund for this purpose.. This is certainly the true policy". The right.use-tpmake of all re venue, derived from the sale of the public domain is to expend it upon permanent public works. , The lessons to be learned from these circumstances may be useful in New Zealand. We are now called upon to bear increased taxation. Has it all arisen from causes which have disastrously operated in New South Wales ? If so, let us remove such causes, and prevent their recurrence in the future.