PLAIN ENGLISH.

Patea Mail, Volume XI, Issue 131, 22 February 1886, Page 2

PLAIN ENGLISH.

The Globe (Sydney) of the 2nd February makes the following very plain and understandable remarks in its leading article : “ One of the most discouraging signs of the times is the apathy displayed by our public men concerning the dangerous financial position of the Not one politician whose name iaTOfore the public as a possible candidate for office has attempted to deal with the subject, and the only member of Parliament who has shown real appreciation of the fact that important steps must be taken to restore the equilibrium of the finances is Mu W. J, Fergusson, whose bold proposals of an income tax,* a land tax, and an absentee tax, stand, so far, as the only scheme before the public. The Government and the Opposition are alike paralysed by a difficulty which should have awakened the attention of every man who aspired to lead public opinion- The cowardly silence of the Sydney Press is on a par with the treacherous neglect of the political world. Everybody knows that we have a million and a half of real deficit to meet when the purposely under estimated expenditure of the present year has been balanced. knows that the deficit ought to be cleared off in from two to three years, and that a sum of half-a-million, annually must be asked from the people but not one financier has dared to suggest a plan for raising the money. They are all waiting for each other. Everyone is determined that he won't speak first, but will remain silent that he may criticise his neighbour. No country in the world' not plunged into financial difficulty by war, ever had a larger deficiency to deal with in proportion to its population and its means. The revenue of Great "Britain is about twelve times our own ; therefore, a proportionate deficiency in England would amount to eighteen millions sterling. Were such a disaster to occur in British finance every platform in the Empire would hold some orator bent upon enlightening public opinion and proposing a way out of the difficulty. Every newspaper would discuss the subject in every possible light, and the consensus of opinion would soon bo fixed on a method of managing tie deficiency. Here our Parliament and our Press alike are full of dumb dogs who don’t dare to bark, * except when their own selfish ends can be served by making a noise. Not one proposal for raising the money comes from any of the petty professional politicians who pose as heaven-gifted geninues. ‘ Not one one sentence of elucidation is vouchsafed by the pusillanimous Press. The affairs of Fiji, or Tasmania, or of the moon, > have assumed such importance in their feyes that they cannot spare time to attend to our business nearer home.' The rich people are afraid of the Income Tax, and still more afraid of any substitute for it. They will rather look on and see bir John Robertson sell the equity of redemption of eighty millions of acres for a pennyfar tiling an acre than they will suggest any plan for dealing with the difficulty which may lead to their having to pay a farthingthomselves. On the contrary, they hope if his plan be carried out to share the plunder, and they are deliberately waiting for the chance of doing so. To pay a debt, which we can easily discharge out of our ordinary means, Sir John Robertson proposes to sacrifice our birthright, and Parliament and the bulk of the press of Sydney are treacherously abetting his suicidal folly. Anything rather than make a possibly unpopular proposal, anything rather than pay a penny toward the deficiency, anything that will give a chance of standing in when the public are to be swindled! That is the present condition of things, and that is a position which no honest writer and no politician would accept. The events of the last six weeks shows that Parliament is full of traitors to their trust, and that the Press has forgotten its duty of warning the public that its best interests are being sacrificed.