Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1899. FALLACIES ANSWERED. SOME AWKWARD COMPARISONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIII, Issue 270, 28 November 1899, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1899. FALLACIES ANSWERED. SOME AWKWARD COMPARISONS.

D using the present political campaign an adherent of the Ministerial nominee signing himsef ' Observer ' has attempted to question our unanswerable figures, and to Blip in a word in favour of the cmdio'atare of tho gentleman he is supporting. Hitherto ''Obterver ' La* written courteously, and he haß been answered in (he earns spirit ; but bo now seems to be losing his temper. A loiter from " observer" reoeived yesterday is appended below, and answered in the same column. Oar space isofexireme value just now, and tho pressure of correspondence renders the holding over of communications sometimes unavoidable. But, lest our motives in further holding over "Observer's" letter should be misconstrued by the side " Observer " is battling for, place is found for it in this column. • • * To the Editob ok "The Evening Mail," Sir, — tYhaS you say '■ Let anyone try aud get a pair of boots in Nelson for 13a or 14s and see it he will like them long " is no answer to my charge against your f.lso statement re tbe average price of boots. I can safely say this c asß of boot is liked well enough, beciuse booUscllcrs in tbis town have informed me that the majority of men only pay from 7s Cd to 14s a paii. They also informed me that the 12s to 14s class are nearly all New Zealand made, on which, of course, there is no duty collected, and the whole of the amount of money which the leather and these goods cost is circulated in this colony alone. Another piece of information I received was that half of the boots and shoes sold throughout this colony were made iu this country ; consequen 1 ly I fail to see that I proved too much when I know that on half of them that arc worn by the 74:1,000 people no duty js paid. And if the same progress tint has been made since 1891 continues, I consider 10 years beoce the amount of revenue derived from this duty will bo veiy small. You aay that the Customs revenue has increased. Knowing that the present tariff as a whole is somewhat similar to the one of 1890, it naturally would with the increased population. In making this statement why did yon forget to inform your readers that the population is 120,000 more now than iu 1890 '.> In IS9O the value of our imports was .£6,260,525 and the duty amounted to .£1,541,000, or Is lid in the £■ In 1897 the value of our imports was £8,055,000, and the duty • amounted to £1,912,900, oris 84 ia the £,

Another misleading statement of yours " the public debt has been increased v £8,000,000, on which interest has to be aid." But you forgot to Bay who pays Yon know as well as I do that most : tbia amount was borrowed for making ivances to settlers and for purohasicg irge estates such as the Cheviot, Starorougb, &c, for closer settlement, and le interest is paid, not by the general ix payer, but by the persons who reorrowed the money from the Governlent. As you have written so strongly bout purity, why do you not tell the rhele truth when discussing political subsets instead of half ? Be intimidation, you pub'ished a long rticlb about it, and I challenged you in ny last letter, as well as Mr Hnrstbouae, o name a single civil servant in this elecorat.. who has been intimidated by this lovernmentof Mr Graham, as to which »»y he should vote. Why did you not nsertit? Yours etc., OBSERVER. * * • Now, in regard to the price of loots we reppat the assertion that he 12a or 14? boot is not ihe test if an aveiage any more than slucher?, whioh can be bought at Is 9d a pair. Moreover, as to the 'allaoy that the wearers of New 4'alano-mauufactured boots do not pay the duty, any learner in fiscal politics knows that the essential v~n of protection is to bring up the jrice of local manufactures to the price of the analogous imported irtiola, plus the duty. Therefore, he wearer of New Zealand-made Doots practically pays the duty, [ust as if he had bought imported DCOtB. * # * Answering " Observer's" fnrther Fallacies, the actual increase of population in New Zealand in 1890-99 was from 626,048 to 748,463, or 117,415. In the Fame period the increases in the rest of Australasia were : N.S. Wales, 224,380 ; Victoria, 42,197 ; Queensland, 105,498 ; South Australia, 48,886 ; West Australia, 121,839 ; Tasmania, 32,050. Burely all these increases were not due to Seddonism in New Zealand ! But the increase of population in New Zealand in 1880-1890 was from 484,864 to 626,048, or, 141,184— 23,769 more than in the last decade. Was that due to the fact that the country know Seddonism was coming? But tbe answer to "Obeerver's" intentionally misleading query is in the following statement Population increase 1890-98 117.4K Public revenue 1890-91 £ 1,193,9 42 „ IS9S-99 £5,20H,22i Increase £1,004,381 Public expenditure; 1890-91 (exclusive of loans) £'4,081,501 Do. IS9S-99 £4,858,311 Increase ,£770,91.' Population increase 1880-1890 141,18 Public revenue, 1880-90 .£1,757,49: Do. 1890-91 .£4,193,91: Increase ,£436,4!! rublic expenditure 1880-81 (exclusive of loans) .£3,073,79; Do. 1890-91 £4,U8t,50l Increase ' £405,701 COMPARISON. 1880-90—1890-98. Population (difference) —23,70.; K«vemio;incrcase + £227,93} Expenditure increase + £371,17t It will be seen that with an increase of 141,184 in population in 1880-90 the increase in expenditure was £405,969, while in 1890-99, with a population increase of 117,415, tho increaee of expenditure was £776,945. These figures speak for themselves. * * * As to the increase in the colony's debt (£10,000,000, including the Bank of New Zealand guarantee) it is all fallacy to to, k about there being no debt beoause individuals instead of the State psy some of the interest. One may a3 well say that because partners in a firm borrow separately for business purposes, the tctal liabilities of the firm are not increased. But that is not the issue. Inorease of liability, in private business as in publio finance, is often wise, and it has been truly said that Britain's chief power is in ber national debt. But Britain (an empire) owes her debt to her own people, while New Zealand (a colony) owes to virtually foreign lenders and pays interest to strau« gers. Moreover, tbe principal charge against Seddonism is not that it has borrowed, bat that it has extravagantly and corruptly spent money, from iouns and increased revenue, rendering the reduction of taxation on tbe necessaries of life almost impossible * * # Finally in regard to "Observer's" challenge, it was duly inserted (Bee «• Mail," 23rd inst.) and answered by botb Mr Hurstbousc and ourselves. "Observer" knows well that men's bHlets would be joopar^ dieed if names were published, henoe ho felt safe in making the challenge. The public also know all about Mr Allport, Mr Glasgow and other instances of teddonian nepotism. At least one specific instance in this city ia mentioned of actual intimidation, while there is proof of civil servants deliberately removing their pwu and the r families' names from the electoral rolls in order that they may not be able to vote. " Observer's " little tin trumpet of denial is not likely to have much effect in the crash oi exposure now sounding throughout the colony.