THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1896.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10046, 5 February 1896, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1896.

The speech of Mr. (Jadinan at Hamilton was of a business-like nature. His audience Were mostly interested in farming, and his policy was to show that the present Government had chiefly devoted its energies to promoting the welfare of all those who are connected with the land. A good deal might be said on this subject by anyone who would go through the changes made of late years in the incidence of taxation, and who would also cull from the speeches of Mr. Reeves and some of the more prominent Government supporters. In the course of his speech, Mr. Cadman has to show how our export of wheat has fallen off, and how we were - more and more dependent upon our wool and our frozen meat. But tlio present Government lias earnestly endeavoured from the first to throw the burden of taxation upon those who produce frozen meat and wool, and if they have made any efforts in the way of agriculture, these have mainly been with the object of creating a class who can add little to the wealth of the country. Mr. Cadman made the statement that "it would be cheaper to buy lands in the Waikato than to purchase land in the King Country, for the reason that the railway was already there." We can scarcely understand this as applying to the country from Te Awainutu to the tunnel, because a railway is constructed through that country. Much of the land along that line lias been purchased by the Government, but is not settled yet, owing we believe to the way in which the Government will persist in dealing with it. The Government should offer it so that it may be taken up by those who will raise mutton and wool. But Mr. Cadman says" Although a large quantity of land had been thrown open by the Government during the last year, but very few applications for land for settlement had been made." Surely this ought to lead the Government to consider whether the legislation of the last few years had not tended to frighten people from the idea of having anything to do with land, seeing that it involves liability to a special taxation. As to the inspectors of all matters connected with agriculture, these certainly have been increased by the present Government till they amount to a formidable army, but whether these have been of any conspicuous benefit to the colony has not yet been proved, The reductions which the Government have made on railway freights are pleasant to farmers, but there is much element of doubt about them after all if they bring the rates to a lower point than is payable. If that is the case, the deficiency has simply to be made up of taxation on those who use the railways. And the colony is engaged in a tedious process of deception all round. Again Mr. Cadman referred to the subject of borrowing. Ministers have taken up this position, that if the people of the colony want to borrow, then they will so decide, and if the constituencies agree to borrow then the Government will go to London and raise a loan on the best terms possible. If the people decide not to borrow then they must remember there will be no money for public works, because the sinking fund has been all swallowed up. But it is the duty of Ministers to express an opinion on the subject. They are more intimately acquainted with the condition of the colony than any other persons. They ought to be able to form the best opinion on the important point of whether they could spend the borrowed money on works which would be remunerative. As Ministers and leading politicians they ought to be prepared to say whether they advise the incurring of another loan, Perhaps it should be put that they ought to say, whether the colony can go on without another loan ; but they do not like to put it in that way just yet. But Mr. Cadman, like the other Ministers, when he refers to the subject of borrowing, shows how advantageously we can obtain money at the present time, and what a large number of valuable assets we have. " Our railway lines were worth at least twenty millions, and our telegraph and public buildings were also good assets." Our railways are generally calculated to be worth fifteen millions, but we suppose that five millions is neither here nor there in an estimate which is not worth much in any case. But can we call the railways an asset when they aro not paid for ? Can we pledge them for a further loan when in reality they are not ours ? The money we have spent on our railways costs us, when all the etceteras are taken into consideration, fivo percent., and it earns about two and a-half. There is not much of an asset about that j property to boast of. j

We are not giving an opinion about a future.loan policy. That depends upon many elements which have yet to bo brought up. But Ministers oucht to be the first to advise on the subject. They cannot expect to be allowed to give no lead. They cannot simply remit the subject to the constituencies, and say they will do what they are told. Mr. Oadman says that "the necessity of borrowing shortly must be looked in the face." If Ministers are convinccd that further borrowing is a "necessity," then they must have.made up their minds. The controversy now can only hinge upon the question, whether borrowing is, or is not, a necessity. • -