PEPPER POT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 8969, 21 April 1890, Page 5

PEPPER POT.

The Victorian loan is floated, then. Net result, par, and a premium on that in the market. Veil, after that any Australasian colony may venture to draw on London at sight, and depend upon the kind protection of moneylenders. And this latest loan was subscribed for in the face of the fact that Victoria will be sure to ask for more next year. Victoria is the Oliver Twist of Australasia, and not only glories in it but demands more as her right. She is the white-headed offspring of the Motherland. New Zealand is the black. It is true the financial papers gave Victoria a dressing down, bat then the loan was handsomely subscribed for all that. The last time New Zealand held out her plate for more, how the financial bulldogs did growl and snap ! For which we would not have cared one rap if the loan had only been handsomely subscribed, which it wasn’t. It was given grudgingly. Well, Victoria has another four millions to scatter around. Some New Zealanders, we expect, will go across to join in the scramble. And then the Opposition press will anathematise the Ministry for not providing attractive settlement here ! And if a little loan, less than a fourth of the Victorian affair, is even hinted at for the purpose the hinters are abominably abused for extravagance and corruption ! And yet if we do not borrow A little the country cannot be opened up as needful. The North Island Main Trunk Railway must be completed, and the untapped country throngh which it runs opened up by lateral roads. The Otago Central must be finished and all the good land there brought into occupation. Canterbury is doing very well with the East and West Coast railway, and does not want anything specially just at present. If there is anything North of Auckland worth exploiting, let it be exploited. An effort must bs made not only to increase population, but to keep what we have. Last month’s population returns were dead against the Colony. Oh! how the Victorian carcase will attract the kites and crows 1 Our Dunedin telegrams state that the Dunedin Exhibition closed in a “ blaze of glory.” That’s really stunning, but w® think “ glory ’* should read “’whisky,” At the same time we do congratulate our Dunedin friends on the great success of their Exhibition effort. And we do hope that after all the blaze the reaction will not be very severe. The Exhibition has done the Colony sterling service. It attracted a thousand or two of newcomers, and introduced them to the finest corner of creation. Not even excepting the Emerald Isle and the.Facific Slope of the U.S.A. From reports in the local papers it would seem that the Gisborne harbour works scheme is a failure. The Engineer has bad to admit that the travelling sand threatens to overwhelm what has been done, and the Gisborne folks appear to be in financial straits as to providing interest on the loan. If we remember rightly that loan was £120,000. It will be lamentable indeed if all that money has been wasted. Plus £250,000, loss on the Now Plymouth harbour-making effort, and all the money wasted in Otago, Oamaru and Timaru in the same direction : And we have enough to rail the gaps between Auckland and Dunedin, bar Cook Strait, and finish the Otago Central besides. Harbour-making has not paid the Colony. No, sir, not by chalks. Another grumble from the Mother Land. Cable advices this morning say recent arrivals of New Zealand cheese and butter are of unequal quality ! Again, (3 dairymen, look to your laurels 1 The quality all round should be first-class, and can be made so by the exercise of reasonable care. Another contradiction of Portuguese in. tentiocs in Eastern Africa. Mere rumours with a little something to rest upon. And so with European affairs. Russia meditating an invasion of Germany, indeed ! We don’t think that has beenon the cards this year. We believe that Germany’s attitude to France is merely the Kaiser’s desire to promote universal peace.. The reduction of postal rates between’ England and the colonies is a radical movement by a Conservative Government; and a move, in the right direction. It is thought the colonies will oppose it, because of the loss of revenue. That is a question, certainly. Great Britain' has a great surplus, and can afford the move Without having to extract revenue from some other source to make good the deficiency, Colonies that cannot afford the reduction must either maintain existing rates oi else clap it on something else to pay postage. iWill that be quite fair, considering that the great mass of the people at this end do not contribute much to over-sea postage ? Better news abont the hemp market 1 The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company is to the fore again with reliable news. We are sorry to lose Mr Donaldson, of Lysaght and Co. He is a good citizen with independent and original views. May he have a prosperous career in South Africa, whither he is bonnd, via England. To morrow T. K. Mac and Co. will sell his furniture at the residence, Bolton street. See advt. The Marine Department are abont to fill a very important post. An engineer, surveyor, and inspector of machinery is advertised’for. There are enough good men about.