OBTAINING A LOAN.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3041, 3 September 1870, Page 9

OBTAINING A LOAN.

TiiK most memorable session in the history of New Zealand is drawing to a close, and with it will expire the fourth Parliament of Mew Zealand, having its successor the largest and most masterly scheme ever propounded for the advancement of the colony. The scheme has gone through the ordcai of debate, its every detail being examined and checked by the critical eye of the Opposition. The result we all know. The opposition it has met with and overcome is sufficient endorsement of the justness of the proposals it contains; and "comparatively slight though it was, it still tells more in favor of the policy than if it had boon received with an unquestioning assent, which might have been attributed to the dazzling effect of prospective millions, Sufficient time has also elapsed for the scheme to have received the keen scrutiny of the adjacent colonies, a scrutiny that proposals so vast could not fail 'to beget. In a group of colonial families like Australasia, every modification in the domestic arrangements of one will ho naturally accepted by the others either as a les son to follow or as a danger to avoid. Of almost equal interest to us is their opinion of our domestic schemes. Particulary so has this been the case with the policy proposed b 4 y the Government. Though sanguine of the scheme ourselves, we havo discussed it with most impartial business-like spirit, and havo patiently awaited any adverso views to bo advanced, either by the opposition journals of the colony or by those of our neighbors, who hope for more than they appear to augur. We have conned the columns of our colonial contemporaries without discovering any well grounded objections. Amongst ourselves, we know how the scheme has risen in favor ; and since the first unreflecting burst of hostility from a few journals, there has been nothing of substantial weight spoken against the measure. Of little more weight arc the feeble objections raised by members of the Australian press. With no valid argument to urge against the scheme, they make the most ol their fears ; and become prophets of evil ; in lieu of argument, they deal in journalistic shrugs and winks. They imitate the wiseacre of private life; and as in private affairs, we will presume that we best know ourown business. The only objections that have yet been raised against the proposals amount to this — Can the money be got? Doubtless ihe sum is great ; but so is our need ; and a much less sum would not do. We have arrived at that stage in our progress when the requirements of a single division are as great as were those of the whole country a few years ago ; and as the Colonial Treasurer says : — " Each pro-