THE COLONIST. Published Daily.—Mornings. Nelson, Wednesday, October 18, 1893. "HAPPY NEW ZEALAND !"

Colonist, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7761, 18 October 1893, Page 3

THE COLONIST. Published Daily .— Mornings. Nelson, Wednesday, October 18, 1893. "HAPPY NEW ZEALAND !"

Such i* the ejaculation with whioh the London ' Daily Chronicle " concludes an anicle on tbe New Zealand Budget. The London correspondent of the • Auckland Herald ' supplies the cemments of several of the English papers on the Financial State, ment presented last session by the Hon J. G. Ward, and from this communication we learn that the < Financial News ' regards New Zea. hnd's financial experience of last year as extremely satisfactory, and says, "The creditors of the Colony will be the last people to complain that the surplus of revenue is devoted to really reproductive expenditure. It is entirely gratifying to discover tbat New Zealand is able to present such a brilliant example of financial reformation to the neighboring colonies." Tho 'Daily Cbroniolej' to which we have tjlrealy alluded, expressed conviction that" very few Chancellors of the Exchequer pan have risen tp niake their Budget speech this year with anything like, the satisfaction that must have been the lot pf the Hon J, G. Ward, the Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand. To judge by its fi' ahces and its statistics that lovely country might almost be regarded as one of the hallowed islands of the blest."' Yet another authority, the 'Westminster Review,' thinks- that the facts and figures given by Mr Ward in his Budget "fully justifies him in the favorable view he has j;aken of the future prospects of New Zealand." The 'Morning Advertiser . -thus forcibly puts the' position: — "1-t was the fashion to write of New Zealand as j»he most likely oj! all the Australasian Colonies to founder in hopeless bankruptcy. These Cassandra-like predictions hav§ been abundantly falsified

■ New Zealand went too;|aß«<_6r 7 a timJ.ahd | wfl_ld;,pps§ib]y rhaVtfdrfih upon the'r66kof financial disaster had not ""her states'metf reoognised the danger ih'tihft., and resoliitelyi faoedtthe situation by a tfolioy of abstention from further borrowing 'iri the Engjlisti market. Now the fruits of this' admlrkble' polioy of self-denial, which we rejoice to ; see >is to be still persevered in, are becomiog apparent." All this goes to show how consi-' derably the Colony has .advanced in the estimation of cod, onfedirig critics, and New Zealanders have cause to feel gratified that they are thus acknowledged to be both .upright and independent. It is; however, very deplorable to.fiodthat a small section of the Opposition Press are prepared to befoul the Colony in order that they. may have the grat fioation of attacking political opponents; The ' Hawke's Bay Herald ' quotes from the ' Scotsman,' which is, it says, as a general rule one of the best informed newspapers in Great Britain, and proceeds to, allege, that that journal has either been hoaxed lately or has written with much carelessness. The offendiDg article in the ' Scotsman ' states — " While the Budgets ol the sister Colonies on the main Continent were every year showing substantial surpluses, deficits had beoome chronio and of steadily increasing proportions in the case of New Zealand. All thisis now changed, She has not only made immense strides towards attaining an equilibrium between revenue and expenditure. ' but has advanced to a point when she can boast of a eurplus." It prooeeds, however,- to show tlie surplus reported in the last Financial Statement as the surplus for the^ year, omitting to show tha balanoe brought forward, thus giving an opportunity for assailing the jusiicet of the comment, and the ' Herald ' has seized the opportunity. Our Napier contemporary also harps upon the fact, whioh no one lias denied, that the Colony has' been ÜBing re'eaaed sinking funds. It also alleges that the indebtedness of the Oolony has :; been during the last six years by reason of the conversion of loans. AU this was pointed out in the Financial Statement, which showed the amount by which the grosß debt had been increased, but it wtts explained therein, "although the oapital amount has been increased, a very substantial saving of interest (some fifty-three thousand pounds per annum), results from these conversions." Ministers have not taken oredit for reduoing the publio debt, but merely 1 for having abs'ained from the raising of further loans. As to the conversion operations they have followed in the footsteps of their predecessors, but now that an improved state of affairs is made manifest, jealousy, whioh ignores patriotism and fact, is permitted to obscure reason. Dispassionate oritios, however, have shown, acoording to the quotations we have given, that the credit of the Colony has been advanced during the term of office of the pre. sent Government. It rests with the people to decide whether future administration shall not be at least as care'ul as it has been of late. Let the people declare for a continuation of the policy of Self Reliance adopted by the Liberal party, and insist upon the exercise of eoonony whereever practicable, and the good name won is not likely to suffer. But it must not be forgotten that the present is a time when the utmost oare is needed to avoid temptations.