The Waipawa Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1879.

Waipawa Mail, Volume 2, Issue 133, 20 December 1879, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1879.

We suppose there will be few persons in New Zealand who will not re-echo the cheers which, we are told, greeted the announcement, in the House of Representatives, that the £5,000,000 loan had been subscribed for twice over. It is satisfactory to find that the English capitalist has still perfect confidence in the stability of the colony, and that despite our enormous debt, he is still willing to lend us more. Seeing that it was found necessary to ask for this loan, no one will regret that we have got it, and so readily, but we do regret that further borrowing was necessary, and we hope that the vast unprofitable speculation with borrowed money which the colony has been carrying on since the initiation of the Public Works Policy will now cease. That the expenditure has been unprofitable is, we hold, proved by the statements made by each successive Minister for Public Works. The Hon. Mr Oliver informed the House and the country, only ten days ago, that our railways are only returning a fraction over two per cent, on the cost of their construction, and it is very doubtful, if a correct estimate were made of the wear and tear to the rails and rollingstock, whether this profit of two per cent, would not entirely disappear. Supposing our loans to bear an average rate of five per cent, interest, there is a direct loss to the country of three per cent., and this on a capital of about £9,000,000, the approximate amount expended on our railways, means a direct loss of £270,000 per annum. The indirect advantages resulting from the railways would have to be very great to compensate this enormous loss. The Immigration and Public Works Policy went hand in hand, — a glowing picture was held out of borrowing money to make roads and

railways to open up the country, and of importing labour to make the railways, and then develop the resources of the country. The Immigration Policy has, in our opinion, been a failure. It is true, that many very useful settlers have, by it, been induced to come amongst us, but the immigrants who have come to New Zealand at the expense of the Government have not been of a class calculated to promote the advancement of the country. What the colony urgently needs is the advent of a class of farmers who have both the capital and the experience to develop the resources of our now unproductive lands, but it is just this class who will be chary of coming to a country where they will be liable to such excessive taxation as in New Zealand. No one who knows the resources of this country questions its ultimate prosperity, but we are now in the position of having run too fast in the race of progress, and in the words of a late Premier, being in need of “ rest.” This word was used in a different sense to that in which we quote it, but is very applicable to the borrowing policy now. The colony may make very great progress in three years, the time for which the Crown agents have engaged we shall not again borrow. The proposals of the Government, in future, to devote the proceeds of Crown land sales to public works, will undoubtedly prove a check to the borrowing policy, and has, we doubt not, tended to the successful floating of the loan. The advent of this large sum into the coffers of the colony will greatly remove the financial depression under which we have been suffering, and coming simultaneously with a rise in the value of our staple product, should give a very decided impetus to trade generally.