The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE,Proprietor. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1898.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 309, 2 July 1898, Page 2

The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE,Proprietor. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1898.

We are in receipt of a., copy of Mr Vaile's pamphlet, " The Government and the Working Man." As is always the case with Mr Vaile when he take;! up a subject involving figures, he has by research through public documents compiled some tables which go to show that the arrogant boasting of the members and followers of the Seddon Government that they have vastly improved the position of the working men, has no fact to support it. On the contrary that their position has been getting gradually worse since the present Government came into power in 1891. The first tabic which we print below shows that although the Government has claimed surpluses of over £2,600,000, they have increased the debt of the colony by £5,653,550 and increased taxation by £342,171, notwithstanding that they have had an increased population of 95,000 to work upon. The table is as follows : 1891. 1597. Increase. Population .. 631,058 729,000 05,542 Public debt .. 38,713,008 44,360,618 6,653,550 Accumulated surpluses, '9l-7 2,636,173 Taxation .. 2,179,739 2,021,910 342,171 No. of Civil Servants.. .. 8,02(5 9,079 453 Contingent liability on account B.N.Z. 5,231,000 Mr Vaile next treats of Land Settlement, and it will be found that the table below shows that progress in this respect has been less satisfactory than during the last year of the Atkinson regime, and that notwithstanding the large sums spent in purchasing land improved and unimproved, the land revenue was less in 1897 than in 1891, when Sir H. Atkinson was in power. 1891. 1597. Decr'se. No. of selectors .. 2,420 2,173 247 No. acres taken up 2,154,138 1,000,095 5.1:5,443 Amount of Land Revenue.. .. £352,417 £272,954 £79,403 Then again let us take his tanle showing tbs result of the mining industry. lb will bo seen by the