THE MINISTERIAL MEMORANDA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 668, 20 May 1865, Page 4

THE MINISTERIAL MEMORANDA.

[From the Lyitelton Times, May 4.] We have never read a more satisfactory Parliamentary paper than that recently published by the Ministry of the colony. The Ministerial memoranda which it containß are satisfactory, not only to the colony at large, but particularly to the Middle Island ; and, perhaps, most of all to our own readers; who have felt that on tho success of the policy which the Weld Ministry adopted, their hopes of a still united New Zealand have been staked. We confess to have doubted often and seriously whether, even in the hands of honorable and sagacious men like Mr. Weld and his colleagues, the distracted affairs of the colony could be reduced to any kind of order, or brought into harmony with tho policy which has been agreed to as the only practicable one for New Zealand. These memoranda rebuke us for tho doubt. We are surprised to find thorn so comprehensive as they arc ; for we have not lately been used to tho publication of Ministerial manifestos writ, ten for any purpose but to argne out a personal dispute. The papers before us, within ver-y moderate space, give us in. formation upon every important part of the Native -and Imperial policy of the General Government. We are first told what attitude has been assumed towards the Home Government, with regard to the military force in the colony, and to the demand from North and South for separation. Next, we learn the proposition made to the Imperial Treasury to pay off the debt due to them. Next, we have .the outline and some details of the plan proposed by Ministers for substituting a colonial force for her Majesty's troops, when the latter are withdrawn ; and accompanying this is a comprehensive view of the financial condition of the colony, of the estimated cost of the proposed plans, and of the means for meeting that cost. And finally, we have an incidental but tolerably clear view given us of the relations between his Excellency and his present advisers. But we are not only surprised at the comprehensiveness of the statements ; our wonder is much greater at iheir gratifying character. We were not prepared to have so pleasant an account of how the policy of last session has worked.

In the first place we find that, so long ago as the 30th December last, "Ministers prepared a statement for the Colonial Gffice, detailing the determination of the Assembly to have the troopa removed as soon as possible ; urging the impossibility on tho one hand, and the usefulness on the other, of maintaining- a largo regular forco on the terms offered by the Home Government ; and explaining the 'course which the colony would take in supplying the place of the soldiers. The new policy was thereforo laid before the Colonial Office at the earliest moment; and an acknowledgement of ife will be due by the next mail from England.

Secondly, a decided stop has beon taken with reference to the Imperial claims upon ihe colony. We are particularly pleased to observe that thero has been no playing with this serious matter; no talk of avoiding the claim, nor any appearance of ig- j noring it or longer delaying its consideration. Mr. Weld and his colleagues have sent to the Imperial Treasury £500,000 of the Colonial Debentures, bearing interest at 4 per cent. This is tho amount that would have been paid, and the intorest which the colony would have had to meet, had the guaranteed Million Loan been accepted by the Government, as it was by Mr. Header Wood, last yoar. If the Treasury choose to guarantee the halfmillion and negotiate the debentures, they may recover the principal ; but even if they merely hold the debentures, tho interest paid by the colony will be more than equivalent to tho charges on the same amount paid out of the English Consolidated Fund. The offer is unconditional ; but is accompanied by a not unjustified remonstrance against tho refusal of tho Treasury to guarantee tho Three Million Loan, and by an appeal to it to do so now, or else to afford pecuniary aid to the colony during tho next few years, in the shape of an annual grant.. We heartily approve of Mr. Fitzherbert'B short memoranda on this subject.. An offer is made which should bo made, and a request which may properly be preferred is preferred, at the most suitablo moment, and in the most telling manner.

Wo now pass on to the statistical and financial information which Mr.* Weld's memoranda of the 20th March pregnant. There, at the outset, a question which wo have been impatient to ask since the year began ia answered. Aro the Imperial troops in the colony since the Ist January to be paid for, ac required by Mr. Cardwell, and half-promised by Mr. B. Wood ? Certainly not. His Excellency was asked to send home the alternative proposed by the colony. But pending the reply whether the troops ezurold or should not bo removed, Mr. Weld recommended that the • "Colonial ParKunent ?hould undertake a "reasonable liability for the services of "troops actively engaged in the field at ♦' tho especial recommendation of hia Ex"cellency'a Ministers, arid for such troops "only." The trofij^'hivo done Borne service since that tii^r certainly ; bat the liability of the co|otiy on that account, yrhtn all is toM,.niwt be very BttiaJ* indeed. Mi. Weld tfceh goes on to express hia opinion of the power of the colony for sel£<£*ienoe. Bq, shows that the Militia and Vokwteera in North Island number 6165 men ; a»dl^a\there aro upwards of 4000 settlers holding knd on a military tenure. In addition to %cc& he proposes to raise and eqw>. a body H^f armed constabulary, to nqsiiij&e^ 16w n^en, of whom 650 meja shall Toe Ij\ the provmoe of Auckland, an equftj nuitfber in l^ranaki and Wellington, ancj "200 in Ha^ke's Bay. This force is to oomjpris9 160 Natives, and it is expected thai JEarope^h portion (part being cavahry) traJrt>e owieted chiefly from Teg-iments.of Uve line, witt) her Ma. jcety'a permiaeion. One steamer will be

kept up. Taking all things into account, the colonial forces, on this footing, will cost £187,000 a year. The state of tho finances is then glanced at. Just now there is g^reat embarrassment because the Three Million Loan will not sell ; and the colony is under heavy liability — upwards of £250,000— to its bankers. (Wo like the explicit manner in which all the statements, good and bad,' aro made.) But if the loan sells, as may be hoped, more than £750,000 out of it is still to spare, or four years' maintenance for the colonial forcos, according to the scalo given above. But if the present rate of war expenditure continues, the available balance will be reduced at the rate of £60,000 a month ; and Ministers imply that, as this cost is due to the present system, unless the Imperial Government promptly fall in with their views, the power of the colony to maintain itself will soon have passed away altogether. We leave the remainder of 'this memorandum to the re-perusal of our readers. It deals in an exhaustive manner with the questions more than once asked by the Colonial Office — Why is not taxation increased ? What are the ' surplus ' revenues paid to provinces ? And why is the territorial revenue not charged with the cost of the war ? We see here the advantage of possessing a Government which understands the circumstances of tbe Middle Island as well as the North, for full justice is done to the Southern provinces.

The last set of memoranda contains a prompt and spirited reply to a remarkable inuendo of the Governor's, that the colonists have yet to be cleared of the chai'ge that the war is carried on for their profit and gratification — an inuendo the more remarkable, since the Governor immediately afterwards declares that no expression used by Ministers could give grounds for any such charge. We admire the bold manner in which the Ministry tackle this question. The success of the war is a profit and gratification to colonists ; but it has more serious causes and they have higher motiv% than these ; so much so, that it would be more to their profit and gratification, in every sense, to prosecute so successful an enterprise as the capture of Pipiriki at their own expense, than to gather commissariat moneys for years, waiting on an ineffective army in the pay of the Imperial Government.

«