The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1882.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 965, 4 January 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1882.

U m/uuvun 1 , sJUVi Uflltl <i, lbols. ♦ T E elections are over, and our llup-re-i"i't;tivc.s have been chosen. All the cmdidates have spoken, from the Premier, Mr I Tall, to the merest tyro in public matters The news|ijiira.lin\e I'Cen tilled with oratorical displays, :iinl wo have been treated with such columns of verbiage that we lire el;td .ro take bioatli nnd to tlmnlc goodness that the contest is over, The outflow of wisdom has been wondrous, Successful and non-successful candidates alike, were able to givo us panaceas for all our troubles, But, like doclovs, they differed, It is because of this difference that we think it well to call the attention of cur two members, Messrs Beetiiam and Buchanan, to one strange fact, but little referred to in' the late speeches. This fact is rather a hard question tofaee. It is this: "That during the past year nearly one thousand of oiir settlers or traders have been into the Bankruptcy Court, while perhaps as many more havo made private .arrangements with their creditors, or lost their small accumulations of money." A bard nut to crack this, It moans partial ruin to many a man, for what man holds hiph his head af(er once passing through the portals of flic. Bankruptcy Court 1 The more honorable he may be, the more he feels the disgrace, and tlio nioro bitterly dons lie curse tho force of circumstances which has driven him into his position. Tl. is to these " forces of circumstances" that we wish to draw the attention of our two members, ami to ask them to do what they can in checking the causes which have brought, about this state of things, for it vi lamentable, almost pitahle indeed, for us to think of the many who have been ruined by tho pa«t borrowing and. squandering the public funds in unproductive works. The question now at, issue is the past ten years policy of public works,. Has it been beneficial? Is it advisable to continue it'l And in discussing these qii"srions, all that we have to do is to speak for our own district—the Wairarapa—and say how it has affected us Let each district speak for itself, and then let Parliament decide for the wliole. The policy was introduced by I a man having 110 stake in the country, who; directly he saw the ruin that was coming, escappd from it, But it was endorsed by the country and we are responsible. Few will deny that-the heaping together of a debt of some 430,000,000 of money upon a, youiig community implies a vast amount of [ misery, for the interest which has to be paid: drains the very life blood of the community. Morning;, "noon, and night the drain continues, until nearly one half of every pound of wool we grow; erery sack of corn we raise, eyery ounce of gold we produce, - goes to the 'ptiblic creditor. ThiaV Goveffc ment.agkß ns for nearly three millions ®voiy .year J; one halfrfor -the '«%<){. QovercmenV 1 , for

interest. Our productions are littl more/ than double that-* sum. Tb private .creditor,, or banking firm, als ' dr&ws large sum's by way of interesfor. everything now-a-days is qverdrafi there being little or 110 accumulation It is because of this drain, because c this- absence' of accuhiulaiion, ,~vrEici in ust.be for the safety ofVcOmiritifiity as any political economist tells us, t.kti r wo desire to rnisir mi i; Voice against th past j'fcais of mistaken policy, and mpr purticularly to eftijihasise our remark ' to characterise the, Wullington-Jlaatei I ton o\vn railway—as huge and cosily mistake, That rai way is open to the charge of being a ! unprofitable waste of money, for it hs ' been constructed years before it wn required. Not. one ounce of ,wool, 11c a blade of grain has its expenditui resulted in producing over and abov that which was produced befon Rather tlm opposite. It has .throw teams of liorses'out of work which use to consume oats, It has closed ou coach factories, and loft our waggoi: to rot upon the road sides, while a the time a wear and tear in going o in tlio rolling stock on the iron rail which, if we could only fully realii would startle us. It has put a stop i the work of our. blacksmiths, an absolutely ruined many of our towi ships. True, it has enabled us to sen away a little timber, or rather cut - down to waste in railway .sleepers an station buildings used iiid erecte before they were required. Yet ho< many timber mills have benefited b this export? Hardly one, for the: owners, of all people, have suffere most from tlie policy. They, of al have most been driveu into bankruptcy Timber lias been the only productio which the railway bs assisted, am yet our readers well know that most < the mill-owners have been ruinei Such is the irony-of a mistaken polic a policy brought in bofore its time, W say distinctly that the Wellington-Ma terton railway was constructed yen before it was required,. .We oil j speak for our own district, and do bi lvpeat the thoughts of many of on > readers, We 'further say that it is II grevious wrong for the policy to 1, , continued, for more money to I borrowed.' and the present Govcrnmei ■ tine iti nto borrow more; Weask or ! members therefore to remember on j protest, ami to do what they can I check furth.-r borrowing. Wo as them to call Mr' Hall's and Majc Atkinson's, attention to tlio necessif of giving the people-breathing time, < allowing them to accumulate, il the wish to see the country settled an opened up, For the country will I best opened up by allowing the ol • settlers to send their sons''upon tl: waste lands to carve out homes as tin formerly did, Yet how can. this I done if the Government drains awa ■their little accumulations by taxatioi hardly leaving them a iIOO wit which to give a start? A hui ■ dred pounds! :,Wlmt man expects I save a hundred pounds now-a days ? ' is impossible in the face of excessii Government taxation. Let us ope ' the back country ;by good roads, \\ '■ are heartily sick of costly unptoducln railways,