The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 247, 21 October 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1867.

So much comment aud discussion has been evoked by the late financial statement of our own Colouial Treasurer, that it may not only be interesting, but also profitable, to cast our eyes around us and see what our neighbors in New South W ales, whose circumstances were deemed hardly less unsatisfactory than our own, are doing in this regard. The Colonial Treasurer, Mr Eagar, like Mr Fitzherbert, is a pleasant speaker, and a thorough master of financial details, and we are told that his statement was looked for with extraordinary anxiety. From it we learn that the revenue of New South Wales is in a more flourishing condition than was generally imagined, and that a large surplus is anticipated, to the credit of the Treasury at the close of the year. This surplus of revenue over expenditure commenced two years ago when increased taxation was i.nposed, and on the 31st December next it is anticipated that it will amount to £250,000. This is not as much as Mr Eagar expected, but he attributes the decrease to the very unpropitious seasons and the floods and drought which have been experienced in the colony. This picture was, doubtless, a very pleasant one, but it must be remembered that there was a deficit of £800,000 to be made up, and the increased taxation was submitted to, not so much to meet the current expenditure, as to liquidate the debentures which were issued to pay off this large deficit. A grave doubt however seems to be entertained whether this quarter of a million of excess of revenue over expenditure will after ail be realised at the close of the present year, for it is stated that Mr Eagar's anticipated returns are likely to prove a delusion. The package duties will expire on the 31st of December, and it ia not proposed to continue them, as they have not yielded that revenue which was expected, while they have proved very injurious to commerce. The five per cent, ad valorem is to remain as it is, but the Act is to be amended in order to render it more stringent, for it is found that under existing circumstances the morality of commercial men is not sufficiently severe to prevent them from defrauding the revenue to a very large extent. Whilst the honest merchant pays the full duty, the dishonest man is able to evade the greater portion of it, and the former is thus placed at a great disadvantage. The revenue from this source has, it seems, greatly fallen off during the past six months; but with the proposed alteration in the law Mr Eagar expects to double it during the next year. As in our owd case, a very material alteration has been made in the Stamp Act, which will add some thousands of pounds to the revenue. But the most important feature in the ' financial statement of the New South Wales Treasurer is that which relates to the proposed loan of three millions for railway purposes, and thc mode of meeting tbe interest on the same. Mr Eagar, amidst general astonishment as it is stated, t;aitl that he had already opened negotiations with Mr Kohn of Sydney, the representative of the house of Messrß FrueioD, Goschen, & Co. of London, and Oppenheim, Alberti, & Co. of Paris, and had conditionally accepted their offer, subject to tho approval of Parliament. These houses had consented to take the proposed loan at 84 per cent,, guaranteeing afc least

£500,000, and leaving the remainder to be settled according to the state of the money market when the remainder was required. In other words, if it suited thein they would take 'the whole loan; if not they could refuse: but this same privilege was not accorded to the Government, who were bound to transfer the whole three millions if they were demanded. It is oovious that if this agreement were carried out, the colony of New South Wales would lose sixteen pounds for every huudred which she borrowed; so that, in pluce of paying 5 per cent., she would in reality be borrowing at 6 per cent., and she would thus lose £480,000 upon the transaction. Even this proposition was not so absurd as what followed, for Mr Eagar proposed to turn money-lender with the surplus cash until it was wanted, and to seli drafts on London to the mercantile community at the same premium as is charged by the banks. Without discussing the more than questionable policy of competition on the part of the Government with private individuals in money transactions, it is not likely that the exchange would bring in any profit, for the competition would soon reduce it to par, and thus leave nothing for the trouble of the exchange. It seems that the opposition to the proposed scheme was so grest that at length the Premier, Mr Martin, informed the Assembly that the Government had withdrawn all the negociations concerning the pi'oposed loan, and that if the £3,000.000 were sanctioned, uo steps for the raising of the money would be taken without consulting the wishes of Parliament. So the matter now rests, and there seems every probability that the ministerial scheme of railway exteusion, which is universally condemned, will perforce b*** laid aside by

its projectors.