FILING OUR SCHEDULES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1849, 24 May 1888, Page 4

FILING OUR SCHEDULES.

" No man is wise at all hours " Bays an ancient Latin proverb, and some of the most sagacious of men have before now had to admit that there have been occasions m which. 5 they " spoke mad- i visedly with their lips." It is not, therefore, perhaps so remarkable a thing after all that that Nestor of Ne,w Zealand politics, Sir F. Whitak.er, should have furnished another example of how very human it is to err. No doubt the heat of debate, or rather the urgency of the moment, caused him to use -words which a calmer moment would not justify. When he said that unless the Loan Bill were passed " wa should have to file our schedule," the expression was, it appears, not intended m the sense m which it was understood the Premier subsequently explaining m the House of Representatives Vnat the Attorney General had been referring to the fact that the Government had engagements under the authority of the loan of last session, which they were bound to fulfil, and that bis remark as to Siing waa only a playful way of emphasising the embarrassment into which they would be plunged if Parliament refused to pass the amended bill necessary to make that of last year operative. But, unfortunately, Sir Frederick did not succeed m conveying that impression at the time, and the " we " of his sentence was generally understood m the broad sense of inclading the colony as a Trhole. Worse still, the matter was taken up by some of the newspapers, notably the Wellington " Evening Press"- as m this light, ar.d it was Represented that some mysterious communication had been made to Mr Fulton by the Premier, indicating the existence of serious financial peril, and comments were made which, but for gome authoritative contradiction, must have had an effect m London, and Bven here, most prejudicial to the interests of the colony, and utterly damnatory m their effect upon oil !Sew Zealand securities. Therefore it was the bounden duty of the House to ask of Ministers to give an explanation, such as should nip the mischief m the bud, and at once ally the fears of the timid and misinformed. The Opposition, through Mr Lance, discharged this duty well on Tuesday afternoon, and elicited from Sir H. Atkinson cot only an explanation that the Attorney-General did not impugn the solvency of the Colony, but also an assurance that the position of ]Sew Zealand financially is perfectly sound, and that the Financial {Statr.. ment when made m a few days we aid prove that the condition of the colo ny is sounder, and better at the present time than when the Loan Bill was ' Drought m last session. This is sa^i s f ac t or v but not more than we expect <$ f or no ne but confirmed croakers airj pessimists ever entertained for a nv omen t the idea that New Zealand is lively to be m the position of being treble to meet her engagements with <; ne public creditors, but she has unha- pp ii y not a f ew enemies, and the worst o f h er f OOB are> a i asl o f her own b'oijaejioidj an( j we w j sn we could only 'oelieve that all those newspapers vj nicb. were so ready to make the worst of the Attorney- Generals slip of the tongue will be equally ready to make the amende by giving equal publicity and prominence to the Premier's explanation.