THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JANUARY. 9, 1894.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9403, 9 January 1894, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JANUARY. 9, 1894.

We are having & holiday from politics at the present time. Mr. Seddon has not yet returned from the elysium of Westland, and probably, when he does resume business in Wellington, he will not be inclined needlessly to stir inconvenient questions. He is conserva-; tive enough for that, at all events. Probably the first question of moment that will arise naturally is the familiar one of whether the colony is again to go, on the loan market. : The financial position may be briefly explained. At the end of the present financial year, if the votes are expended, the Go vernment will have finally reached the end of its tether in respect to loan funds ; there is not much sinking fund left to Collar, and the alternative will present itself either to borrow or to abstain altogether from further railway construction. Possibly, by refraining from spending some of the money voted last session, Ministers may have some small sum t still left to deal with, and may manage Ito postpone facing the alternative for another year. But it is bound to come, and that soon. It is contended by our politicians who are in favour of borrowing that it is more advantageous to go into the market while we have still some money in hand than to wait till the Treasury is completely empty, and then perhaps be forced to borrow at a disadvantageous time to fulfil engagements. ,

But the question will arise, is there tiny public work so pressing that we should borrow ? We must keep in mind all the disadvantages. We would lose our reputation as a non-borrowing colony, and that means a great deal as respects the' prosperity of all private enterprises. Time was when if the colony borrowed, say, two millions, the efleet was immediately felt in something. like a boom of prosperity. Latterly, however, borrowing failed to act in that way. The weight was too great in the other scale. And we might be certain that this time borrowing would not give any spurt in any department whatever. The effect would be rather the reverse. At present we have quite enough to do to pay interest and to , meet the ordinary expenses of administration. An addition to our public debt would mean further * taxation, j Where that taxation could be placed j would be a very puzzling question for i any economist. Already we are more heavily burdened through the Customhouse than any other of the Australian colonies, and "another turn of the screw" in the income tax or land tax might have very startling and disastrous effects. Are any of our railways of such urgency as to induce us to commence borrowing again, with all the consequences of that action 1 bo far as the North is concerned, we may dismiss the matter at once. Only a very trifling amount of railway construction is being carried on here. We are practically out of it. As respects the Mam Trunk railway, the expenditure there is from a special loan. There is no chance of anything being done for some time, for the surveys and exploration are being carried on so slowly that the route cannot be even determined on at present. Besides, we have fifty miles of railway made through a oountry which is yet unsettled, and which is only partly acquired. When the Government have placed population along the line which is at present made, arid when settlement has, been extended in the large districts which will communicate with the line, then it will be seen more clearly than at present wher extension can be made. Probably the line which will be moat powerfully pressed on the Government is the Otago Central. The cry for the last tan years with regard to that , line is, that if the Government will only push it on to such-and-such a place, then the " paying point" will have been reached. There have been four or five paying points reached and passed, but still the cry is the same. But it would be monstrous to plunge into the loan market again to carry on this line, which cannot , possibly pay for many years to come. The same may be said of the Eketahuna-Woodville line. As for the Midland Railway, it seems very doubtful whether the company will go on with the work, in which case the colony ought certainly not to touch it. But in any case, we think that any movement in favour of a new loan next session should be strenuously resisted, ;