Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly. Price 1d. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1886. Mr Bryce on the Position of the Colony.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1842, 9 June 1886, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly. Price Id. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1886. Mr Bryce on the Position of the Colony.

Mr John Bryce, the member for Waitolara, w is so honest, straight forward, and outspoken in his public utterances, that his views are always received with attention and c respect in Parliament. During the recent p “No Confidence ” debate Mr Bryce made an I excellent speech, some points in which are P worthy of notice. Mr Bryce has faith in the ultimate future prosperity of the colony, but j iViini™ that before arriving at that condition e the people of New Zealand will have to go ® through a period of great depression. The grounds stated by the speaker for this belief were.that the borrowing and Public Works policy of 1870 had saddled the colony with an enormous debt; that the people as the result of that debt were burdened with heavy taxation ; that the financial proposals of the Government were extravagant, reckless, and beyond the pecuniary resources of the ; colony; and that the prices obtainable for wool, frozen meat and other staple products were so low as to prove unremunerative to the producers. Such being the state of affairs, Mr Bryce contended that the only way to deal with it was to taper off in borrowing, largely reduce the administrative and general expenditure, and only carry out such public works as would, almost immediately, piove reproductive. , . ... There is much truth in the views thus expressed by Mr Bryce. Still, we think he has looked too much on the dark side of the picture. The enormous debt and the heavy taxation are hard, stern facts which can in no way be questioned. But, on the other hand, it is quite possible that affairs will take a turn for the better before long. !Many shrewd business men both in Great Britain as well as the colonies are confident that wool will rise in price. Then in the case of frozen meat the prices of late have been so very Jlow that any change will probably be in the direction of an advance. As to the threatened completion of other countries in supplying Great Britain with frozen meat, we do not feel I much anxiety on that head. New Zealand will always be able to export frozen meat of such first class quality, as to take the best position in the Home market, in comparison I with the same article produced by any other country under the sun. With better prices for wool and frozen meat, and the opening up of additional markets for those products, there would soon be experienced a better state of affairs in the colony. But, meantime, we heartily agree with Mr Bryce that the most rigid economy should be exercised by the Government in their administrative and public works expenditure ; and that borrowing should be restricted to one million for the present year, and gradually tapered off to even narrow limits. We would almost go further than Mr Bryce in the direction of restricting borrowing and cutting down expenditure. We are firmly convinced that the best possible thing for the colony would be not to borrow a single shilling more for a period of five years, and during that time just carry on with the means at the disposal of the Government. Of course a cessation of borrowing would produce temporary depression and its attendent inconveniences. But gradually the colony, after a further period of suffering, would begin to recover and get back to a ’ natural and healthy financial condition. However, neither Parliament nor the people will stop borrowing so long as the English capitalist will lend the money. so we can only venture to hope that borrowing will be kept within as close limits as possible. One million for the present year would be quite enough.