8.-2

1875. NEW ZEALAND.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT, (In Committee of Ways and Means, July 30, 1875) BY THE COLONIAL TREASURER, THE HONORABLE MAJOR ATKINSON.

Mr. O'Rorke, — The absence upon the present occasion of my honorable colleague Sir J. Vogel is, I am sure, a matter of very great regret, not only to the members of this Committee but also to the country at large. My honorable friend the Native Minister has, however, already expressed very fully to the House the feelings of the Government upon this subject, and it is therefore only necessary for me now to refer to it as the cause of my occupying the position which my absent colleague has filled with such undoubted genius. Honorable members will readily understand that I have undertaken the task with very great diffidence and under a strong sense of responsibility, and will therefore, I trust, kindly extend to me as full a measure of indulgence as I can reasonably ask. There have been so many positive statements and so many intangible rumours circulated of late, both here and in England, to the discredit of the financial position of the colony, that I should altogether fail in my duty were I not to take this opportunity of placing upon official record a refutation of them. To accomplish this, I do not propose to enter into a longargument with real or imaginary opponents, but to give an absolutely full statement of our real financial position, in the simplest form and language of which I am master. A plain unvarnished statement of the true condition of our monetary affairs will, I think, be the best possible answer to our unscrupulous slanderers, while it will at the same time enable honest doubters to ascertain for themselves, with very little trouble, the truth or falsehood of what they read and hear. I may therefore have to trouble the Committee at greater length than I could have desired, but the question being of such vital importance to the interests of the colony, I am sure the Committee will approve of the course I propose to follow. My subject naturally divides itself into two parts —Loans and Revenue. I proceed, therefore, to consider the question of LOANS. It is desirable that I should first make a short statement as to the raising of the last Four Million Loan. When Sir J. Vogel first submitted the Public "Works and Immigration policy for the approval of the country, it was intended to extend the execution of the works over a long period of time. But no sooner was the scheme fairly initiated, than pressure, which apparently it was impossible to resist, was brought to bear upon the Government from all sides to hurry on the works. The House and the country determined that the works Avere to be vigorously prosecuted, and in obedience to that determination the late Government did proceed with vigour, not only in the construction of railways, but also with respect to the introduction of immigrants; and, as a necessary con-