NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18018, 17 February 1922, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

VICTORIA'S PUBLIC DEBT.

Addressing the National Club in Sydney, the State Treasurer of Victoria, Mr. W. M. McPherson, said the spending capacity of Victoria was £19,000,000, but the Government did its best to get 20s worth for every sovereign it spent, with the result that, for the past, four years, it had had a surplus aggregating £1,000,000. "In regard to our national debt," continued Mr. McPherson, " this Government and previous Governments that have been in office have made determined efforts to transfer, as fat as possible, the liability from London to Melbourne. How we have succeeded in this respect may be gauged from the fact that, in 1901, Victoria carried only 11 per cent, of our debt; we now carry 56 por cent. W 6 pay £3,250,000 annually in intorest, and more than half this Bum is paid to our own people. During the list 17 years we havo appeared only three times on the London markot for new money. The dobt stands at about £87,000,000, working out per capita at about £57 per head, which is the lowest in the Commonwealth, and of this £84,000,000 is interest-earning. We provido a sinking fund with all our loans,"

BRITISH POLITICAL ISSUES. The future of political parties in Britain was recently discussed by the Manchester Guardian. It declared that through the new developments in connection with Ireland, the Unionist Party has ceased to eiist. Conservatism remains, as it always will remain, but Unionism is dead, because tho particular causo which gave it its name, and for more than 30 years determined its character, is itself dead. After canvassing tho possible developments from the existing coalition, the journal added:—"There are great issues in front of us. Tho whole principle of free trade, is in question, and has already largely been compromised. What will the new party, if it is formed, have to say to that? There is the question of tho Uouse of Lords, which it is proposed to reform in order to strengthen it, and to find an excuse for the repeal of the Parliament Act. Thero is the whole vital question of tho relation of Liberal policy to the problems of Labour. There are far-reaching questions of external policy still in the balance, and we have yet to ask ourselves whether in Egypt and in India it is tho Liberal or the Conservative policy which is to prevail."