The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1886. GOOD NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1489, 6 April 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1886. GOOD NEWS.

The wiseacres who laugh at “ the printing press and bale of papers,” in this colony will find two items in the mail news just to hand very hard nuts to crack. One of the items referred to is as follows The Manchester Examiner of March 4th contained a lengthy speech of ex-Qovornor Greenfell, of the Bank of England, at a meeting of the Bimetallic League. After citing the opinion of a number of men who had , given the bimetallic theory close attention, he declared that the depression in Great Britain is due in a great measure to monometallism. In conclusion he said that the accounts of the Indian Empire, closing with 1884, showed most alarming figures. The interest on tl># debt m 1884 was less than' £4,000,000 sterling, and the loss by exchange on Government drafts was only £500,000 short of another £4,000,000. The interest payable on the debt of India wos almost doubled by this fall in the rale of exchange, This was an alarming figure* The loss in the rate of exchange was upon the whole of the Council’s drawings. Mr Greenfell pointed to the general fall in prices, especially in land products in England, in the colonies and abroad, for which be said no other reason could be found than the appreciation of gold. In conclusion he made a short statement of the question in the United Stales, the Latin Union, the Indian Empire, and Germany. The question was one, he remarked, affecting both employers and working people in Lancashire, It was their duty and their interest to force the Imperial Government to give an intelligent consideration to the question.

When an ex-Governor of Ihe Bank of England condemns the mania for gold, and insists that ,the cause of onr distress and misery is attributable to it, we think that it is time some serious consideration was paid to the ; proposals now agitating the public mind In this colony. But wo have yet another item to quote from yesterday's mail news which is still more to the point, and which we trust will enable the “slaves to the money-lenders” to take heart, and hope that something may yet be done. The item to which we refer runs as follows : There baa been established a bank at Posen, the funds of which are to be used to pay up mortgages on estates impoverished by Polish nobles, to enable the present owners to retain their land*

Now this is exactly what we have been advocating, and if it is done in Posen we see no reason why it could not be done here. There is only one way to do it, and it is this: Let the farmers and working men combine together and Bend no man to Parliament who does not give a pledge that he will do all he can to forward the scheme. So long as people sit down quietly, and “let things rip ” nothing will be done, “Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not who would be free must strike the blow.” Let the- people of New Zealand strike the blow at the next election, let all other differences and all other considerations be sunk, and this made the test question. If this is done victory will undoubtedly be achieved ; if not the result will be that we shall sink deeper in the mire till the whole country becomes bankrupt. The matter is in the hands of the people, and the sooner they begin the belter.