THE INDEBTEDNESS OF NEW ZEALAND.
The following letter, signed "An Old Colonist," appears in the Australian Times and Anglo-New Zealander:—
Sir, — In a recent telegram it is stated that the Premier of New Zealand informed his constituents at Dunedin that his Government intended borrowing the sum of £2,000,000. This news bears date 2nd July. I believe that the Government debt of New Zealand already amounts to £36,000,000 sterling, and that the European population is said to be 620,000. Late reports from the colony say that it is in a depressed state, and the Emigrants' Information Office, as shown in your issue of Ist July, says :— " The demandj for labour all artisan and mechanical trades are stated to be depressed at the present time. In the chief towns the supply of labour is quite equal to the demand." The present Government of New Zealand not long since proposed to nationalise the land ; if this is done, it will upset Crown grants and securities and help to make that colony a second Ireland. Its resources are rich and the waste lands extensive; but if titles are to be tampered with, and the taxation, which is now as heavy as the settlers can bear, the future results will be serious. Already on the Stock Exchange there is a growing feeling that New Zealand comes too often to the market for municipal and other loans; and in the colony I find that those who have an interest in its welfare protest against its indebtednes fceJDg increased.
THE INDEBTEDNESS OF NEW ZEALAND.
Otago Witness, Issue 1866, 26 August 1887, Page 14
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