The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1886. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1248, 27 May 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1886. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The Financial Statement delivered by Sir Julius Vogel on Tuesday evening is neither a brilliant nor a sensational production, but it is, undoubtedly, the most able dissertation on the fiscal policy of the Government we have yet had from the Colonial Treasurer. The budgets delivered by Major Atkinson arc preserved in the memories of the few people who read them as marvels of arithmetical intricacy and literary ambiguity; the budgets delivered by the present Treasurer, and particularly the budget delivered on Tuesday evening, will long be remembered as the clearest and most gracefully expressed expositions of Colonial finance we have ever received at the hands of any Minister. Perhaps Major Atkinson is quite as good a financier as Sir J. Vogel, but the unfailing courage, indomitable energy, social tact, and literary ability of the latter statesman give him a prestige and influence the like of which his predecessor in office can never attain. But the mere possession of sufficient literary ability and buoyancy of temperament to clothe unpalatable facts in graceful and cheerful language, will hardly satisfy the thousands of overburdened taxpayers who are wearily waiting the development of the new era of prosperity promised by the Colonial Treasurer. The country is absolutely in extremis ; we have lived on the past and future until those sources of supply are almost exhausted; and we must now jface the grim necessity of supporting ourselves, in the present, by our own unaided efforts. The Colonial Treasurer has shown no serious disposition to meet this necessity ; but, to do him justice, he fa been perfectly honest about ,lhe financial position of the country, and has, in a great measure, thrown the onus of future action upon the House. He tells us that no additional taxation is necessary ; on the contrary, he can do with less, and proposes to reduce the Property Tax by one-sixteenth of

penny, but, at the same time, we are told it may be as well to hold the dc tick of ISB3-4, a sum of 1.150,000, in suspense. The Treasurer is averse, he tells us, to permanently funding this deficit, but proposes to “ provide for it by transferring it to five years’ debentures.” This system of “ providing” for debt is by no means a new one; it prevails in this country to a truly extraordinary extent, W; have all heard of the typical coloms' who after signing a promissory note for the amount of his indebtedness to a tradesman, exclaimed “ Thank God, that’s paid." Sir Julius Vogel expresses himself with more delicacy, hut much

to the same effect when, alluding to these five years’ debentures, he says, “ They can be taken up and extinquished as circumstances justify such a course.” We dare say the grateful debtor renewed the promissory note he gave in discharge of his obligation to tire tradesman, and our past experience leads us to believe that when these five years’ debentures mature they, too, will be tenewed or, possibly, permanently added to the national debt. And this is how we relieve ourselves of taxation ! Perhaps the weakest pait of the Statement is that in which the Treasurer “ entreats ” members to increase the salaries ol a “ very few” ‘old and well tried officers.” The question of departmental expenditure we shall return to on another occasion, but, in the meantime, we have no hesitation in predicting that the country and, we believe, the House, will imperatively demand some substantial retrenchment in the Civil Service expenditure during the present session. When the country is groaning under an almost insupportable burden of debt and depression, when public works are well nigh suspended, and our principal industries paralysed, the proposal to increase certain salaries, be the recipients ever so worthy, is simply monstrous. We trust tne gentlemen representing this part of the country in the House will not permit their general sympathy with the Government of the day to prevent them demanding, and demanding firmly, that every effort shall be made to reduce the present and future burdens of the people, It has been shown over and over again that j reductions amounting to 1.50,000 or L 60,000 in our Civil List expenditure, might be effected without inflicting injustice upon any individual. A reduction to this extent, at least, is demanded, and it the demand be disregarded, it may be enforced in a manner which would materially disturb the equanimity and calculations of the Ministry.

RABBIT NUISANCE ACT

A correspondent, whose letter appeared in our last issue, is very naturally, irritated by the wilful destruction of certain domesticated rabbits, we presume,,his properly. We have no desire to excuse the person or persons who have been guilty of this wanton piece of cruelty, but it may be as well that our correspondent, and others at present ignorant of the law on the subject, should know that the keeping of even domesticated rabbits is an offence against The Rabbit Nuisance Act, iSSa, as amended by the Act of last session. The Inspector, or any person authorised by an Inspetcor may, serve notice on an owner to destroy such rabbits, and any owner who may neglect to comply with the terms of the notice will be liable to a penalty of J~2 o. The Act also gives power to the Inspector to undertake the work of destruction, at the cost of the owner, in cases where the latter has failed to take the steps demanded. It was generally expected that the Amendment Act, which simply repeals a clause of the original Act which exempted domesticated rabbits from its operation, would remain a dead letter in this pan of the colony. But an Inspector is now stationed in Ashburton with express instructions to enforce the Act in its entirety. This means that rabbits may no longer be kept in cages or otherwise retained as domesticated animals, Owners must either hand their pets over to the commissariat departments of their establishments, or afford them more distinguished obsequies in appropriate parts of their allotments.