The Ohinemuri Gazette AND UPPER THAMES WARDEN. "I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver.' -Othello, Act 1, Scene 3 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1892.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume I, Issue 48, 12 November 1892, Page 6

The Ohinemuri Gazette AND UPPER THAMES WARDEN. "I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver.' -Othello, Act 1, Scene 3 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1892.

The proposals now* being being made by the Government of -. New South Wales<■ to place a large loan on the (Sydney market,. without troubling English or other foreian capital, is one tbat must be-regarded with-great interest- by every citizen* of these colonies Hitherto,, whenever any of the Australias required money, ; whole hostsof middlemen, brokers and agents were called-into requisition, and the Cost of procuration of the desired capital, 'exchange fees, etc, with the discount at which the loam was fflbatpd, meant in-many cases that the borrowing colony only received about £90 cut of every £100 it was responsible for. There be land rats and" water rats—big and 1 '1 little usurers ;• and the harpies of the Stock Exchanges and Bourses are Bimpty enlarged'specimen* ;of the back street loan societies, and thephtfanth'ropic " gentlemen of pri-< yate means *-' who lend 1 unlimited 1 amounts to anybody and everybody t* merely' on their note, of' hand," and •whose limit of usury is perilously near the bankruptcy point of their victim. Eve© as- the individual should avoid the latter, so the country should eschew the- former, and this can be done to. a very great extent by borrowing public loans within the Colony. Of course it is not to be expected'that the Anglo-Saxon race can at' one stroke be brought to that peculiar combination" of- thrift and public spirit which is characteristic of the French' and othter Continental races. In* France every little capitalist, jbe he thrifty labourer-saving trader or carefuF concierge, he will put his few Hundreds of francß *srorth Rentes or Government Stocks, obligations de chemin defer and other National and public funds; a'proceeding whichis twice biassed for while it secures him aa> almoit absolutely- safe and\rename native;investment, it also makes 1 Kim'feel more' and more that" he is -essentially ~a (part ' and y parcel of'the p (^at3«|iaK)ior.fA^atroßat'aewtimeiit. is all ver ywell, but itis ißlieap strbbger when a man har got'his money on-it. 1 > The custom iof purchasing 3 per cent Consols and. other standard stocks in Bißgland,' 1 by, persons holding' surplus capital^ is on a different plane to the Con-tinental custom, Consols; etc, being held not by> the small man but by the large capitalists. Still, the holding of the debt of^the-nation by the people, of the nation, irrespective of class, undoubtedly., cements the foundation stones -of that nation more securely together. Tbe feeling 1 that one- has one's cash resting and relying upon the good state and good Government' of a< country makes a far more solid patriotism than any yellings of" God save the Queen," "The Wearing of the Green," or " Auld Lang Sync" This- is a most unsentimental statemerit but a'hard frozen fact to which; we call particular attention;

i We are not by any means believers^ in that sort of State Bank fad, whioh' ! proposes-to purchase-a bale of paper i and a printing press and print off! capital at the rate of a million a day. T-he notions of Colonial " statesmeu"' on this point are most amusing, but a ■ common sense test of the value of" paper currency knocks them all sky high. A- cougon, or debenture or • promisory. note or bank note is simply r a * promise to pay so much gold at a given timff,- or oa dema«d r ,for> valuereceived. To enter into this subject at length would "require acres of paper and seas of ink, but that is the common* sense essence- of- the whole argument.

Adam Smith puts it " a promise for an ounce of < gold'should be exactly wortk< an ounce of gold." But this en passant. I However,. we' do believe that there is • a possibility.of internal finance which woiildPkeep the interest-.of'the money and with it the interest'in the-State > wi hiti the Colony. Supposing »io«v, for example,.that" Government aftor< haying-decided to^ construct the- P.i«»roa-Te Aroha Railway hj.d • called for* tender* for 1" the - work in the usual way. Supposingthat inserted, in the specifications was a clause something to • this • effect:— " Th« contractor or contractors for th© - " work shall- be paid" by and with " Government of New Zealaud coupon " or debentures which'shall bear in-- " terest from the date of issue at the "rate of-(say) five per centum per- " annum." Would not the effect of suoh mean ■ ihat a sum of thirty or forty>thousand pounds would be-virtually borrowed ? from the people, without any pro- - curation fees* brokerage or exchange iVthe very simplieat mannerppssible? ' The debentures- would be the very* best of security,, aafer by far-than any ' bank notes, and would,' if the system ■■ were generally carried on throughout - the Colony by Government, becomecommon currency. The contractor would- receive them-from Government, he would pay bis own -with them and • they would pay their storekeeper or with' them again, and, un--like the general bank note, th^y would be, growing more valuable while being held by the unbiic.TTjmj'suggestion is 6nly thrown-^out as one of manr? wayai by- which;} the" people of'tho Oolony may becomVmore a part of it and become inbued with a truer National spirit. We are glad" to see that Sir Georg© Dibbs -sees this * and that he is opening a public fund -< to small puwhasers. - It is the true- cooperative spirit and we should* like to • see it—as we believe it, shortly will J be—in Vog»e in this' Colony aleo.

Patsroa; this-day. (By Telegraph— From bur o^n Correspondent)..) • " A "terrible fire occurred in this town-- " ship early this morning. It started - *• somewhere in the centre block, a "strong variable.breeze Wowing aft 11 the time. ?n a very short space the * '•whole block,.includingrfour hotels, "several stdres, butchers'' shopv " boarding, houses, Ac., were, aflame, " while the sparks and flying burning " debris were taken by. a sudden ''westerly breeze and ignUed the " shops, stables, residences and - the - " newly-erected Bank of New Zealand, $' "across the narrow street andconP'tiniung along seized the Post Office -"and Government buildings,, the'f whole of which* being: constructedi !" solely of timber,. and Übe we»ther~ j" being very dry^wera burnt to ashes * *"in the course of a fewi> terrible' ," hours. The whole fearful catastrophe > !"is due to the lack; of am adequate- ," water supply:''' I Whatis the odd's that 1 sublr a • para*graph tnay r not appear? 1 Barely a« month goes by but that such'telegrams do appear and' why should we Kere not be on the little list of' holocausts. Our Te Aroha* neighbours littlethought an hour before the occurrenceof 1 the recent lamentable-fire that in a short time they would be standing 4 by watching the fieroe element derourinflr their and their' neighbours Lares and! Penates and they as helpless asdrowning sheep. In a fire of this sort unless the insurances are much larger than ttte commercial >alue of tb«J

buildings and good^ destroyed (,md this the Insurance offices usually h iv<» something to say about) or uulesa the fire is "arranged," the victims usually are-at a heavy loss. Let any man who reads this ponder over hia goods und the insurance on them and unless he premeditates arson, he will come to the «onclusion that he would rather be without the fire.

Yet here we are in Paeroa at thfi meifcy of a match—in the hand of any drunken fool who puts his lifted pipe into hia pocket and drops off to sleep; of any carales& slavey who stands a bucket of hot ashes in the scullery, or playful' kiddy who plays Fifth of November in the woolshed. But Kismet, Allah is Great, and if the township has got to go, well let it rip Water supply be handed —won't hive a water supply because Smith and Jones first brought the idea up and we are against Smith and Jones: We'd 80nn«r let the town burn and all hands ivizzle to Gehenna than we'd go for a Watersupply.,