SPIRIT of the PRESS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 662, 31 October 1884, Page 18

SPIRIT of the PRESS.

We need say but little as to that part of the Public Works Statement which relates to the past. Mr Richardson has been but a short time in office, and it would he unreasonable to suppose that he should have already acquired a perfect knowledge of the present condition of a department with which he has not been connected for some years. He has, however, come to conclusions on more than one important point, and whether or not he is correct in his judgments remains to be proved. He considers that the staff is too large for the requirements of the department, and says that the reductions supposed to have been made in 18SI-2 were more nominal than real, as most of the officers who at that time disappeared from the list of the permanent staff, “ were placed on temporary charge, and provided for out of the votes for construction works.” Seeing that the railways are to be pushed ou more rapidly than ever, Mr Richardson may find before long that his hopes of retrenchment are not well founded. So with regard to what he says concerning the amount of work which has been executed on open lines. He believes that very much of it has been done a great deal sooner than was necessary. Perhaps so, but there is excellent authority for holding a different opinion, and it may he that Mr Richardson’s views will undergo a change, and that he will find himself obliged to sanction a good deal more of the same sort of expenditure, which has, it is alleged, been in many instances too long delayed. What he says about the necessity for a change in the system of management of working railways is merely supplementary to the utterance of the Colonial Treasurer. The Boards of Management are promised, but it is too late to legislate on the subject this session. There can be no doubt that the Government is in earnest iu desiring that the virtually irresponsible control shall he taken out of the hands of the General Manager, though concerning the capacity and zeal of the present holder of the office Mr Richardson speaks in the warmest terms. Another important point alluded to is the rates for both passenger and goods traffic. There appears to be some thought of further reductions in the former, and the rise in the latter is admitted to have produced a large increase in the revenue. But “while this increase in the receipts has taken place, it is an undoubted fact that a great deal of the traffic has been diverted from the railways in some parts of the country, and that the carriers on the roads are competing successfully with the railways.” The remedy is said to lie in a thorough revision, not only iu the rates charged, but in the classification of the goods. The part (>f the Statement which is of most interest to the country at large comes under the heading “ Proposals for the future.” We do uot intend to make any comments at present on the specific proposals for the year, though we shall probably allude to a few of them iu another issue. We wish now to direct attention to the general policy enunciated" by the Minister for Public Works. It is emphatically a borrowing policy. The great business of the country is to be the extension of the railway system, the feeding of the railways, the opening up of the country by roads and bridges, and at intervals, when it appears to be needed, immigration. Iso doubt all these are very important matters, and a Government which neglected them would be unworthy of the confidence of the people. But it is quite possible to attempt too much, and a system of forcing cannot fail in the long run to prove disastrous. The Statement is in many respects vague, but the grand central idea appears to he to borrow for public works incessantly year by year, and for au indefinite period, the measure of the various loans being just that amount which can he screwed out of revenue for the purpose of paying interest. It is not stated in so many words, hut, as far as we can understand the Minister for Public Works, his idea is that surplus is invariably to be regarded as the legitimate means for running the country further into debt. We are certainly told that “ we must steadily pursue the functions of colonization a 3 fast as, and no faster than, our means permit,” and it is added “ that though we may make prognostications of the extent of the future money at our disposal, an exact determination cau only be arrived at year by year.” But will the country be satisfied to accept this notion that our means —the money at our

disposal—is synonymous with the amount which the cash iu hand will produce in the way of loan ? With regard to thiß grand work of colonization the Minister for Public Works says ; —“ Inasmuch as we are not engaged on a spasmodic work, but oc one that will last our lives and the lives of our children and children’s children, we must endeavour to bring to its performance as much of system as possible.” Just so ; and the system which Sir Julius Yogel and Mr Richardson offer is one of ever increasing debt which the children will be called on to bear, and which the children, after cursing their fathers and grandfathers, will in all probability repudiate. Mr Richardson is indeed an apt pupil of the Colonial Treasurer, and must have sat at the feet of his great master and listened to his words of wisdom whilst this Public Works Statement was being concocted. It is pleasant to know that these large schemes are to be all carried out without an increase of taxation, indeed, if the Colonial Treasurer is to be believed, the burdens are to be lightened very considerably. The Minister for Public Works furnishes a little information as to how this is to be achieved, but he only follows the Treasurer: year as a starting point, the object after this year will be to bring the expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund within the means of that fund without the aid of the property-tax. We foresee that that can easily be done by shifting to local expenditure some of the present charges made on the Consolidated Fund—notably the charitable expenditure, and some other small items, let us say, amounting with the charitable aid, to some £IOO,OOO a year. It is clear that the local bodies cannot undertake this without an additional revenue, and, to dispense with needless points of controversy at present, we may suppose that the £IOO,OOO is supplied by either a property tax or a land tax. This is truly delightful vagueness, and reminds one of “You pajs your money and takes your choice.” But we may perhaps be permitted to suppose that the ratepayers of the country will have the privilege of putting their hands in their pockets and making good the £IOO,OOO, or the greater part of it, as was promised by Sir Julius Yogel in his Financial Statement. But the Minister for Public Works tells us also that the local bodies must have other revenues supplied them, “ as it cannot be satisfactory to continue for a lengthened period the policy of making and maintaining roads and bridges out of borrowed money, which has been virtually what has been going on for some time.” But he does uot tell us whence this other revenue is to come, and as all other sources of supply will be dried up to provide for departmental expenditure and interest on the everincreasing debt, “we may suppose ” that the ratepayers will be asked to relieve their necessities by drawing on their own pockets.