PROSPERITY AND POVERTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8997, 6 December 1907, Page 4

PROSPERITY AND POVERTY.

The Premier, when talking to an Auckland pressman on Tuesday last, stated that the financial position of the dominion had never been stronger than it was at present. This, no doubt, is the financier's point of view, and is most probably correct; but it is questionable whether the financial position of the country is satisfactory from the point of view of the general public. The cost of living was never higher than it is today, and the taxation per capita n-aver higher, and New Zealand is one of the most heavily-taxed of tbe Australasian States. Unless the ordinary workman is in constant employment he finds it most difficult to make a living, and at the best his condition nowadays is little better than that of "scraping along." At the annual meeting of the North Canterbury Charitable ' Aid Board, held the other day, the chairman said it was to be regretted thut in such prosperous times as New Zealand continued to enjoy there should be the need for so much expenditure of public money on outdoor relief. In "God's Own Country" there is a large expenditure of public money on this form of charity, and that is to say that though the financial position of the dominion was never stronger *han it is to-day, the country contains a large and increasing number of paupers. We commend the pauper question to the ( earnest consideration of the Premier. The present position demands attention, and the best attention thatjfna Legislature can give to it.