Tuapeka Times.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4339, 29 April 1896, Page 2

Tuapeka Times.

AND BOLDFIELDB REPORfEB AHD ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 1896. M MEASURES, HOT MEN." The able and exhaustive address delivered by the Hon. Mr Larnach at Lawrence on the 20th inst. was an entirely characteristic one. The honorable gentleman, whether in the House or on the platform, always speaks his mind right out, never attempts to mako political capital by truckling to popular prejudice, nor to justify by special pleading any action which may be open to question. He was undoubtedly returned, after a fiercely-contested election, as a supporter of ths present Government ; and he states that, whilst by no means agreeing with every point of their policy, he has approved of the general principles, and hat, therefore, seen no reason to withdraw that support. He had formed, he said, the opinion that, " taking them all in all, the present Government were administering the affairs of thß country certainly equal to, if not better, than any previous Government that he had known in the history of New Zealand." This must, of course, be merely a matter of opinion; but as Mr Larnach includes Governments in which he himself held high office, we must give him credit for expressing his conscientious conviction. So far as this constituency is concerned, it will, we think, be generally conceded that Mr Larnach makes an excellent member, diligent in attending to the interests specially confided to his charge, and, from his influential position in the House, enabled to do practical service. His intimate knowledge oi the conditions of the goldraining industry has, we are aware, been availed of by the present Minister of Mines, and it may reasonably be presumed that the spur given to the mining enterprise by the legislation of ' last session and the judicious proposals in the direction of further encourage1 ment, recently announced, have been in I accordance with his suggestions. The " Otago Daily Times," it may be noted, criticises the address very unfavorably,

but is constrained to admit that Mr Larnach adopted " a moderate and unexceptionable tone ;" and that he has not been " a subservient follower of the Government." The remarks of the honorable gentleman anent the Otago Central Railway League have evidently given.' great umbrage in Dunedin, possibly intensified by the unfortunate fact that he did not beat about the bush in the matter, but, knowing full well what he was talking about, called a spade a spade. In his otherwise elaborate defence of Ministers and their policy, ife is significant that Mr Larnach said little or nothing about their finance — a subject on which he is especially qualified to sp6S.k wifck aufchoriby. la ib that he thinks " the least said the soonest mended,' and was careful, in view of very possible contingencies, not to absolutely commit himself ? We quite agree with him as to the excellent personal qualities of Mr Ward, and the valuable services he has, in the capacity of Post-master-General, rendered to the colony; and we consider that as Treasurer he has not received fair treatment from a section of the Press. But this does not dispose of the very grave issues involved in the existing conditions of the colonial finance, nor does it justify the action which must reasonably be presumed to have brought about those conditions. Mr Larnach, as we have said, preserved a judicious silence, confining himself to arraigning the Opposition for venturing to express doubts as to the surpluses, annually shown in the Financial Statement, bub the substantiality of which would appear to be limited to that document. There is no ground, it may be admitted, for charging the Treasurer in any respect with falsifying the accounts ; but it is the method in which results are given which is misleading. Take, for instance, the last Financial Statement, in which a surplus is shown in the revenue account of £180,024, but, on examination, is found to have been created by treating, as revenue, amounts nob properly included therein and are of the character of capital rather than income ; whilst the floating debt is not taken into consideration — e.g., Treasury Bills issued ia anticipation of revenue. It seems to be much as if a business man, ascertaining his position by the yearly balance, were to omit to take into acoount bills outstanding. As a matter of fact, it never is known how the colony actually stands; we get the figures, indeed, of the permanent debt, which, by the way, is increasing year by year, but this by no means represents the whole liability of the colony. Mr Larnach expresses high approval of what is known as the 11 cheap money " scheme embodied in the Advances to Settlers' Act, the financial soundness of which has been much questioned, and is very sanguine that, whilst very material benefit will be conferred on the settlers, no loss whatever will accrue to the colony. The benefit of obtaining advances at low rates of interest may be conceded ; but the scheme is clearly experimental, and the main point of objection is that it is being carried into effect with borrowed money, for the principal and interest of which the colony is liable. The honorablo gentleman logically contends that " the benefits of the Act" should not be confined to country settlers. " Why," he asks, " should not the mining class get cheap money aad other classes as wellP" He is prepared, if we understand him aright, to advocate the general extension of the principle, and the raising of a few more millions for the purpose. This is rather, as they say in trade, "a big order." Although the honorable gentleman does not distinctly state that he would be in favor of a borrowing policy should it be submitted to the House, we gather from his remarks in regard to railways that he is inclined that way; and we further surmise that the Government have such an idea in embryo, or he would not have said what he did. 11 So far as railway construction in the colony was concerned, if the present generation desired to see the unfinished lines finished in their time, they could not expect them to be completed if they were to be constructed with money out of the ordinary revenue of the colony year by year. " If the people desired to see those unfinished lines finished quickly, there was only one way to do it, and that was to borrow. He was not advocating a borrowing policy, but only pointing out, as was his duty, what would have to be done if the lines were to be completed." This reminds us somewhat of " don't put him under the pump " — a mild method of suggesting such treatment ! Mr Larnach speaks with no uncertain voice as to the mongrel tariff imposed upon the country last session, really under pressure from the Trades Councils and Unions. He considers it radically bad in principle and defective in detail. Revenue, he rightly states, was sacrificed with no benefit to the consumer, and duties both harassing and burdensome were piled on. He is of opinion that dnties should only be levied on a few prominent articles instead of having " a number of irritating duties, which require a large staff of officials to collect," and which clogged the wheels of many branches of industry. As might have been expected from a man of his intelligence and business experience, Mr Larnach does not favorably regard the labor legislation of the last two or three years ; whilst having great respect for the Labor Party, he had not, he said, so much respect for many of their measures, which were " apt to injure the interests they attempted to serve. . . Where legislation interfered between capital and labor to any extent ib would fail." These are words of wisdom.