The Examiner (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, AUGUST 9. THE MARCH OF FINANCE.

Woodville Examiner, Volume VIII, Issue 1018, 9 August 1892, Page 2

The Examiner (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, AUGUST 9. THE MARCH OF FINANCE.

In the columns of The Examinee we have frequently advocated the necessity of financial reform and have pointed out the steps taken in this direction in Germany, India, and the United States. Now we find France entering in the van of progress. The Government will authorise the formation of a rural credit bank, with a commencing capital of 50,000,000 fr. guaranteeing the shareholders either an annual subsidy or to make good the fixed interest when it falls below a determined rate. The members of a syndicate will thus be able to immediately obtain a credit for a certain amount pro rota to their solvency, on the report of the managing local committee presumed to know the applicant’s situation ; the loan will take the form of a bill for 6, 9 or 12 months; it must bear the signature of the president of the syndicate, of the seller, and of the buyer. The bank will then discount the paper at the lowest money market rate. The aid will in time bo extended to the formation of produce syndicates, whore farmers can gain at the other end of the line 'ey eschewing the middleman. Already this scheme has been very .wcc a sh;] for the disposal J wool, wine and j hops. ]

A WASTED SESSION. No one can reasonably excuse the Opposition for the unreasoning obstruction they are offering to the business of the House this session. Instead of getting on with the business of the country the best part of the session has already lapsed without any work of importance being done. There are : wrongs to be righted, provision made for opening up and settling the country, facilities to bo afforded for the development of the fruit, dairy, and other industries; yet nothing has been done in any of these directions. The debates have been of a carping character so far as the most of the members of the Opposition are concerned, and nothing would better describe the business of the session so far than that it has been “flat, stale, and unprofitable.”

MILKING THE COW,

New Zealand is evidently viewed by the British capitalist as a rich milk cow. The British capitalist is very sensitive. He howls when the Government propose to make him pay a little towards the revenue of the colony, he milks so thoroughly well and squeals out that he is going to withdraw. Yet all the time he van lire like spreads over the country. The chairman of the Canterbury Cooperation Association spoke truly the other day when he said; “ Anyone who has watched the progress of commerce in New Zealand of late years, cannot fail to have noticed with regret the fact that London or Australia is gradually assuming the control of our more, important business institutions. We had a New Zealand Bank, with a New Zealand Directory, a New Zealand Shipping Company, with the principal interest held in the colony, a Union Insurance Company—all these business institutions have been almost entirely absorbed of late by London. New Zealand bids fair, at the present rate of progress to become a mere tributary of London or Australia in the mercantile world. No country can possibly flourish if the control and profits of her mercantile business are moved to other countries, or her commerce operations directed from a--distance by a Board of dire ctors and share holders whose interests are simply measur. d by what their profits will be, too often quite irrespective of the general good and well-being of the community and colony. 1 look to the co-operative movements to control and gradually arrest this state of things.” Here is a naked truth which cannot be overlooked. The colonies have always been regarded as milk cows for the mother country. One celebrated British statesman said the colonics would never be allowed to manufacture anything but were compelled to purchase their requirements from the British manufacturer. Now that our Government lays down the principle to borrow no more British capital, the British capitalist is not to be outdone, but squelches institutions built on New Zi aland capital and establishes his own instead.