"HONORABLE AND UPRIGHT MEN IN OFFICE."

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 10625, 28 May 1896, Page 2

"HONORABLE AND UPRIGHT MEN IN OFFICE."

' TO THE EDITOR. Sic, — " A Subscriber" headed his letter in reply to mine, " Two blacks do not make a white." No, sir, no more than a lot of followers of " other ancient Ministries," who call themselves "an'Oppositiou,".and who are stumping the country, pfove that they are fit to take the place of those now in power. I showed in my letter to you that Sir Robert Stout v one who should not be allowed to take office again, as he in the past helprd to miiddle the colony's affairs, and I could go on and do the same with every one of " the Opposition stumpers." The writer (" A Subscriber ") says, " All Sir Robert Stout asked the electors at his meeting was that they should elect honorable and upright men, and so insure pure Goveument.'' Sir Robert insulted the elector from one end of the colony to the other by uttering such words, and the electors at the last election proved by patting the present members in the House that they wished to put " honorable men into Parliament,", and they succeeded ia doing so, also in leaving those they did not consider /'pure " out in the cold. Does " A Subscriber " mean to say that the present Ministry is not composed of "pure- and uprightinea?" I could show you if you could give me Bpace that the present Ministry have done nothing of which they ttee'd be ashamed, and that is more than can be said of the " Opposition stumpers," who think by throwing mud at the presout Ministry they will got the electors in time' to think that they must be had. The ," despised " of tho Dunedin electorate ia the last who should throw mud, for he him ielf h»9 miny political sins to answer for. '"A Sub.-criLer' Bays it matters not a brass button how bad previous Governments have been, it is the present Government we have to deal with- and that Government only," I beg to differ with the writer. It i<s members of the ''ancieut mmistrits," (which have been extravagant failures) who are now stumping the country, and it is tHey who wish to oust the present Government. It is' only right, therefore, the electors should judge them by their past career, whether they would be better administrators than the men now in power if returned. •''' I am certain that the actions of the present Government will bear favourable comparison with tho " ancient ministries " which have preceded them, and where the present Government may have erred in judgment once I could point to blunder after blunder, (and expensive ones too) made by the Ministries of which the National Association Stumpers were either members or supporters of. Let us take for instance the finances of the colony for the last ten years, and see what ' has been done. I will quote my , figures from the last annual volume of Statistics, which, being an official record, cac, I am sure, be relied on. I will take the last decade without reference to the Ministers in power, and I think it must be owned that during the last five years matters financially; have been better attended to than durhig the previous five years.

It will he seen from the above that during the five years previous to the present Government taking office, the Mipisters then in power increased the debt of the colony by over seven millions, whilst the present Government, during their'five years' administration, have only added two millions to the indebtedness, and this has been brought about by conversion of loans. The Ministries during 1884-89 (of which the 1 Opposition stumpers were members or followers of) increased the nefct indebtedness per head of population by £6 10s. On the other hand, it will be seen that the present Government during the five years they have been in office baTe decreased the indebtedness per head of population by £2 15s Cd. Theae figures show, I think, that we have got " honorable and upright men in office." Th« present Government is net made up of a lot of " old failures " who were in "ancient Ministries." The present Ministry is composed of men of talent, who the electors should be proud to' sjeo come to the front. They are not the class to burden the colony with a hea,vy debt such as the " old fossils " in the ,pdst have done, and if the present Government are allowed to remain in power, they will continue to carry on their economic lino of policy, such as the above figures conclusively prove they have dqne during the past five years. — I am, &c, An Old 'Ux.

Net indebtedness £ 1884 29,636,633 1889 36,984,135 Increase £7,347,502 ,1890 37,281,764 .1895 39,635,032 Increase £2,353,268 Net indebtedness per head £ a. d. 54 2 3 60 12 3 Increase £6 10 0 60 5 1 57 9 9 Decrease £2 15 6