THE PELORUS GUARDIAN TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1890. The Financial Statement.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 45, 1 July 1890, Page 2

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1890. The Financial Statement.

The Financial Statement, which was delivered on Thursday, contains little of any great interest. There was a time when such statements were looked forward to with the greatest possible interest—when several millions were to be spent on public works, but that time has gone by, and now if tire Colonial Treasurer can make both ends meet it is as much as can be expected. The public debt of the Colony is put down at <£37,284,518. The ordinary revenue received for the year was <£4,209,407, the surplus over expenditure being £115,174, and after paying £78,605 off the deficiency of previous years there remains a surplus to begin the year with of £86,569. This •is no doubt satisfactory to the Colonial Treasurer, but it must be borne in mind that it is obtained by excessive taxation on a comparatively small population, but, as we went madly in for borrowing, there is nothing left for us to do but to pay dearly for our reckless extravagance. We may assume our expenditure is reduced as low as is consistent with efficiency, and the only way our burdens can be lightened is to increase our population, but that is easier said than done, and possibly the only way of accomplishing this is to have extremely liberal land laws and to give every encouragement for the development of our mineral resources. So far, these two matters, which are of the most vital importance to the Colony, have been neglected, and so long as the electors tamely pay their taxes, and do not insist on the land laws being made more liberal, and encouragement given to unearth our great mineral wealth, so long will Government take the easy course of taxing the people sufficiently to pay our. expenses. There is no credit due to anyone who has got a good estate to mortgage it and spend the money, nor is there any credit due to a Government which taxes the people excessively and by that means obtain a surplus. Real statesmanship lies in the fact of being able to adopt such means as will increase the wealth of the country, and that can only be done by making the best use of our resources. We are credited with having the best estate in the world, and yet those who have had the management of it appear to have made the worst possible use they could of it, by bringing us to the verge of bankruptcy. It is time the people of this country became alive to the true position of affairs, and demanded such reforms as would place us on the road to real prosperity, and not stand calmly by while our land and mineral wealth are gradually but surely finding their way into the hands of capitalists. If we look back into the past history of this country we will find that the best land in the country was allowed to go into the hands of a few, and our laws were so framed as to encourage and facilitate the process. A volume might be filled with the shady transactions which were allowed to take place in dealing with the lands of this country. Everyone has heard of the gridironing in Canterbury, the Piako Swamp, the Patitiri Block, and hundreds of other cases where the majority of the people were actually robbed of their just rights that a few influential people might become wealthy. This would never have occurred if it had not been for the apathy of the people, and it is to be hoped that at the next general elections we will see the electors alive to their true interests by assorting themselves at public meetings, through the Press, and at the ballot-box. Wo Want good, honest politicians, who have the welfare of the country at heart, not demagogues and placehunters, who have only their own interests to serve. We might also hope to find a man who would realise the character of Tennyson’s reformer,—

One still strong man in a blatant land, Whatever they call him, what cure I - Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat—one Who can rale and dare not lie. 0 '