Mr Fronde and the Standard on flew Zealand.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1851, 30 June 1886, Page 2

Mr Fronde and the Standard on flew Zealand.

Mb Fboudb, the eminent historian, snd tha London Standard, have fallen foul of this colony and described it as being the most extravagant and debt-burdened community on the face of the earth. Mr Froude made a llyicg visit to Australia and this colony, and straightway recorded his impressions ■>{ them in a book called “ Oceana.” Hero are amne of the assertions put forth iu this work as summarised iu an article in the Loudon Standard ; “ The town of Auckland,” says Mr Froude, “ has a'population of thirty thousand —(the whole colony has leas than half a million) — because there, as elsewhere, the laborers crowd in for the high wages, the music halls, and the drink shops. The Municipality finds these mea work by raising loans in England, which are spent in, amongst other works, excavating tho biggest graving dock iu the world. Tlie colony, collectively, and the Municipalities, separately, seem contending which can borrow most handsomely. Mr Froude did not find this satisfactory! The bulk of the people In New Zealand, and no doubt in all the colonies afflicted with the mania for raising loans, go on with a light heart. Mr Froude was assured by one shrewd New Zealand gentleman that interest on the debt was at present paid out of the loans, and the beet testimony be coaid get, that of bankers, admitted that much of the mo 1 ev was wasted. Palaces, mansions, uiai.afactorics, capacious harbors, far stretching railways, were being built before the land was peopled, and, of course, capital thus ipiq t was as uuremunerative u sovireigns

would be if sown broadcast irj a wheat lick. But the money gots with a light he lit ; it is f uot their own. “As long as England will i lend, we will borrow,” said the caieless New I Zealander, And when England ceases to t lend ? Then New Zealand will cease to pay i interest. So one intelligent colonist told Mr 1 Froude, also with a light heart. 11 Nor could I make him see that the consequences to them would be serious at all. We should lose our | money ; but they would have paid us if they | con d. His coolness took my breath away.” , These statements made by Mr Frou ie in his book, and by the London Standard in commenting upon them, convey a nio.-t untruthful impression’with respect to the real state of affairs in this colony. There is of course no doubt of the fact that the colony since the Vogel regime of 1850 has borrowed very largely. It is equally true that there has been borrowing all around on the part of Municipalities, aud other local bodies. Add to that, there has been enormous private borrowing by runlioldets, farmers, and owners of .real estate. But the money so borrowed, has, for the most part, been used for works which either have proved, or will prove, reproductive and profitable. The money [has not been spent " in building palaces, mansions, manufactories, aud farreaching railways before the land was peopled.” We don’t know of any “ palaces ” having been built in the colony, while the “ mansions ” which exist have mostly been built by men who have honestly worked for and made their money, and so judiciously spent some of it in making comfortable and commodious houses for themselves and their families. " Manufactories ” have also been established in long-settled and populous districts, by people who simply desired to try to do a legitimate trade and make them pay. “ The far-stretching railways" have been made to open up the country for settlement, aud, for the most part, these works—with perhaps one or two exceptions—will in time pay very t.well. The trunk railway line between Wellington and Auckland wilt, when completed, be the very making of the North Island. The greater portion of the capital expended on such works will bring in a very good return. Then the assertion 11 that the interest on ;the public debt is paid out of loans ”is simply false. The interest on our enormous debt is paid out of the money taken from the colonists by means of heavy Certainly, the colonists are heavily burdened and have much to contend against, owing to the enormous public debt and the crashing taxation which it has caused to be imposed. But the resources of the colony are very great, and, as these are developed, the colonists will be able jto pay interest on loans, oarry out their railway works, and meet each and every responsibility which the extravagant borrowing of the past has imposed npou

them. The colonists are honest and will pay their debts. The mere idea of repudiation is utterly abhorrent to them. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that in the way of borrowing the colonists have gone too fast and too far, and that the time has now come for the

exercise of the utmost caution and prudence in that direction.