The Daily News. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 21, 1901. THE BUDGET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 189, 21 August 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 21, 1901. THE BUDGET.

Hating devoted some Dine columns of our spice to a very comprehensive summary of the Budgst brought down by the Colonial Treasurer it is not necessary for us to write a laboured article to put a construction on it that wnnever ir.tnnded by its author. We have sufficient confidence in the intelligence of our readers to ft el sure they are able to understand so straightforward and plain a statement of the position of the colony witlaout any assistance. We do feel constrained, however, to heartily congratulate the flight Honourable the Premier en the delivery of such a masterly and statesmanlik' exposition of the financial condition of the colony. It is always a matter of regret to us that the full text of the annual Budget cannot be placed in th<hande of every elector so that he or she cm read the full, clear unvarnishel statement before being biased by thf numerous garbled statements which are put into circulation. One of the chief features of the Budget on this occasion is the complete rout of tae opposition critics. , Qn the strength of a report of statements ssid to hav« been made by the Premier in reply to a deputation these critics made out tha* the colony was in a very dol«ful statp. The curious thing is there is not the slightest proof that the Premier made the statements credited to him. Indeed it is known that no regular re porters were present on the occasion and the southern paper which first published the alleged report got its information from a private source. The traordinary thing about it was that paper after paper published it as true, giving as a reason that if it were not true the Premier would or should deny it. Surely these pipers shoivd know that if the Premier were to begin to contradict the untrue statements about himself or to correct uncorrect reports of his speeches he would have no time for anything else. There are papers in this colony, and we regret to have to say it, that delibsrately and wilfully make statements they know to be untrue in the hope of getting the Premier ta deny them, or to use his non-denial of them for political purposes. It is j not often however that the Opposition' fall in so badly and bring such confusion upon themselves as on this occasion. How Mr, Seddon must have en- j joyed that portion of bis statement where he said "It has been stated in several newspapers that it is proposed to meat the estimated deficiency in part by additional land tax, and some slight rearrangement in Customs. It was further alleged tkat some stringency has oecured in the finances through the claims of old age pensions being much more numerous than was anticipated, and our detractors have even gone the length of cabling thiH noßPense to London journals. The credence given to imaginafivs penny-a-liners should not ba found fault with by me, for with a patriotism that does them infinatn cedit, which, as Colonial Treasurer, I very much appreciate, merchants have ripen to th 6 occasion, cleared kerosene, sugar, and tea, with the result that the Customs revenue this month is buoyant in the extreme, and contrasts very favorably with the same month last year." While nvery one will rejoice at the confusion of thi opponents of the Premier, there is a serious side to the question, which all well wishers of the colony must deplore, that is that there are poop's and newspapers so lost to all sense of patriotism and honor that for the gratification

of political feeling, and in their desire to belittle Mr Seddon, and damage his political reputation, they are prepared to drag the u fa,ir fame of the colony in the mire. This matter has shown in a very marked manner the extreme lengths !Ji9 political opponents of the present Government will go. Notwithstanding their signal defeat at the polls, and th ,> proof afforded year after y«ar of tV-e prosperity of the colony under the Libaral administration, a large section; of the Press, which is subsidised f' r the purp iso, continues to distort au i . mlsrtpresont facts and serve them up | for the benefit of its reide- s. Herj 1 we have lately had pipers, aspiring fr> the position of leading journal', taking a most despondent view of the financial position of the co'ony, yet they had the returns for the railways, stamps, Ous-1 torus, te'egraphsand other departments to hand entirely disproving thoir assertions. It is gratifying to know that these attacks on the Government have ceased to carry any weighs, and while thf>y please those who piy for them have no effect on the intelligent elector.