The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY,11th june.1887.

Southland Times, Issue 9542, 11 June 1887, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY,IIth june.lBB7.

The crisis we have now reached in the history of the colony has been long foreseen. "* It was predicted as far back as tho beginning of the heroic policy of public work 6, and as a consequence of that policy. Ihe sudden tmret of prosperity which was experienced a few years afterwards seemed however to turn most people's heads, and there was for a while a pretty general belief that New Zealand was aa exceptional country, with an immunity from the ordinary economic conditions that obtained in other parts of the world. We began accordingly to boast of our wonderful climate, about the unexampled fertility of our soil (could any other country show a yield of 100 bushels or thereabouts of Wheat, or of 120 bushels or thereabout* of oats to the acre?), and about our inexhaustible mineral resources. There never was such a country. It wo^d be impossible to ruin it, or to discount its prospects, or in any way to check or hinder its career. Let us therefore borrow, borrow, borrow, if it were only to spend, spend, spend. This is no exaggeration If such words were not exactly uttered, the colonists wtea i» wjfiQrOftucQ w& th.eir.Yer? letter,

Why, even less than a year ago, Sir Julias Yogel, the initiator (he can hardly be called the originator) of the public works policy, said that we could not possibly go wrong in borrowing for railways! Here was a trace of the once prevalent madness still lingering in the mind of so shrewd a person as the Colonial Treasurer. The consequence was that our Governments did borrow and borrow and borrow, and in many | cases as if it were for the mere sake of spending. They obeyed the Scripture i injunction after their fashion, Cast thy I bread (their borrowed money) upon the ivatsrs, believing that they would find it after (not) many days. One Government was as bad as another. Even that of Sir George Grey, the avowed enemy of Sir Julius and all his works, outVogeled Yogel himself ; for the most heroic Public Works Statement ever presented to a New Zealand Parliament bore the name of the honourable James Macandrew on its front. It was also during that regime of heroic extravagance (Sir George confessed to a Mr Macfarlane that his Government was shockingly wasteful, but said that he could not control his colleagues, all of whom being new to such high office were aaturally anxious to show off at the public expense, — it was under the Grey rule, we say, that the heroic policy first broke down. The reaction had begun to fet in, but it was not this that brought the colony then to the verge of bankruptcy and the Grey administration to an end. It was simply the reckless and unskilful financing of Mr Ballance (Sir Robert Stout's heaven-born financier !) and the general extravagance and mismanagement of the Government. Bo thoroughly imbued with the Vogelian spirit bad even a Grey Ministry become. Sir George was not at all blameless himself, as witness the corrupt manner in which he stumped the country, travelling express on bis electioneering tours, and knocking up the Hineuioa, the poor thing having nearly " bust her bilers " in his service ; but the chief blame lay ot course with bis parcel of conceited and inexperienced colleagues, of whom he has so often bitterly complained. The good Knight really intended to do the colony » a essential service, and no doubt believed that in his case the end justified the means. He was however most unfortunately mated, having alienated the then Parliamentary leaders, and been compelled to employ a scratch team, and that too of very inferior quality, Mr Stout and Mr Macandrew being the only men of ability amongst them, and these sadly wanting in practical wisdom. The result was what might have boen expected, a short race and a merry one, and then a tumble in the mire. The worst thing of all was that the self-styled Great Liberal Party turned upon their author and commander after their overthrow and deposed him from the leadership, an act of treacherous ingratitude which was thoroughly avenged in their subsequent fortunes. For years they led a miserable and contemptible existence, plotting and scheming during receßS, and moving endless want of-confidence motions during session; and they were finally broken up by Mr Kobert Stout's successful intrigue with Sir Julius Yogel, that wily politician having meantime gone back to his i private affairs— having in fact ratted as soon as he discovered the un-sea-worthi-ness of the Grey ship. / fter Sir George Grey came Mr (now Sir John) Hall and hh crew, certainly a more respectable lot, if not; particularly brilliant. We may remark, just; by the way, that it will be no great surprise to find Sir John Hall coming in again to sweep out the Parliament buildings and make things tidy, after the St^ut-Vogelites have got their dismissal. The Hall Government per- ; formed a valuable service to the colony.

hey restored the finances to something like order, and they settled the Native difficulty, with which their predecessors had shown themselves incapable of dealing. This was by far their greatest service, and the name of Mr John Bryce will live in the history of New Zealand long after that of Mr John Ballance, his successor and detractor, is forgotten. But though they could not help knowing that the evil day was drawing nigh, they made no preparations against its approach. Their neglect in this respect is fatal to their pretensions (if indeed they ever pretended) to .anything like far-see-ing statesmanship. For the reaction ha.d now unmistakeably set in. Prices were Steadily falling, and the commercial ootlook becoming darker year by year. The colonial ship was in a word already visibly labouring, and yet the Government never seemed to think of taking in sail or lightening her burdens. They carried on aa if all were serene and the vessel in first-rate trim. To be just, they did make a feeble attempt at retrenchment, and effected some slight reforms in the public service. But they had restored the credit of the colony by means of fresh taxation, that is, by adding to. the burdens of the colonists and so weakening them for the struggle against the hard times, that were still becoming harder and harder. They utterly failed to grasp the situation, and on this account their administration must on the whole be pronounced a fail are. They never attempted to grapple with the extravagant governmental expenditure (it is hardly worth while mentioning the income tax they imposed for one year on the Civil Service), but came down regularly with their proposals for new loans, out of which they went on erecting schools and public buildings as heretofore, just as if the prospects of the country were still unclouded, the fertility of its soil still miraculous, and its resources still inexhaustible. If we romember right they spent over ten millions of borrowed money during their " continuous" reign, a great proportion of which was frittered away on useless works, and some of it in a more questionable manner. Whatever .might be the resources of the colony the Ministry had none ; a more hopelessly barren Government never existed ; and the country became at last so thoroughly sick of them and their placemanlike ways that it actually turned for help to an old broken-down financier like Sir Julius Yogel. But though thafc gentleman found himself etranded^on the shores of New Zealand, the scene of his former triumphs, he had a flattering tale to tell, and, it must be confessed that lie told it with consummate ability, We need not repeat it. It is fresh in everybody's memory. But it was a tale, and nothing more. Sir Julius Yogel probably deceived himself as well as the colony.

of the matter. Be that however as jt ] may, the prosperity he promised did not come. Things on the contrary went from bad to worse till his administrative career.CQlminated the other day, if we may so express it, in an actual deficit of £300,000 and the defeat of his Government. The Stout-Vogel Government bave thus also proved a failure, and a jnach more complete one than their predecessors, The Continuous Governmenthad their successful Native Administration to point to, whereas that of their succeasora, notwithstanding the praises lavished ipon poor Mr Ballance by his own generous self and his no less generous colleagues, the Premier and the Colonial Treasurer, will only serve, along with his potato - and - pumpkin - patch style of settlement, to enhance the general condemnation of the Government, which has now, like the others, run its course. The Stout- Vogelites have however brought New Zealand face to face wifch the crisis of its fate. That is the chief service they have done the colony, a negative service to be sure, and one that includes a great ieal of mismanagement. ' extravagance, and cerruption. It is a very real service all the same, as the colonists must he pretty well persuaded by this time that no help or relief is to be hoped for from any of what may be called our hack Governments, except under direct and severe compulsion. The remedy therefore for the evils the colony is suffering must come from the colonists themselves. They will have to take the matter in hand — take it out of the hanls of the professional politicians — and lay down the lines on which the government of the country is to be conducted. Few people are foolish enough to believe that m-sgovernmenfc has produced all the ills that have befallen us, one of the chief causes of the depression being without doubt the unexampled fall in values ; but when the colony is in such straits it is only reasonable to hope, that t&e Ministry for the time being will do everything in their power to lighten its burdens and smooth its path. As this however is what experience shows us no Government will do of its own accord, the inference is plain, is in a word what we have jnat indicated ; but the fuller discussion of this particular subject we must defer to some other time.