The Press. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1903,

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11506, 12 February 1903, Page 4

The Press. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1903,

MR SEDDON'S PROPHECY,

Wβ regret that we can §o seldom congratulate Mr Seddon on hie statements on the colony's finances. It is, therefore, with great pleasure that we applaud the remarks he made to a deputation at Levin on the rabject, our gratification being ell the more sincere because the views he therein expressed coincide exactly with those to which "The Press ,, has frequently given utterance. " The appropriation of last session of £2,200,000 for "public works," said the Premier, "was "as much as any 800,000 people in any " part of the world could stand, and more "than the country was entitled to. If "the colony put ite neck in a, noone by "borrowing, there would "certainly -be a "day of reckoning." The voice may have been the voice of Seddon, but the words are those of the Opposition. The only difference between Mr Seddon'e statement and our views on the question is that he prediots a day of reokoning "if" there is further borrowing, whereas we regard the Government's past performances in this respect ac sufficient to hastes that day. This is not Mr Seddon'e first appearance in the role of a prophet of disaster, despite hia open contempt for the precisely similar view* of those opposed to him in politics. He ottered much the same warning in a West Coast speech, and hi* peroration in his Budget speech of 1901 was couched in metaphorical terms which conveyed the same lesson. "I advise," he eaid on that occasion, " and that in good faith, that "at the present time the good steamer " "Finance , should, oe steadied, and that " 'slow , and not 'full epeed ahead , should be "the order on the dial. Reasonable care " will insure the good shop riding buoyantly "and safely in calm and placid waters." Brave wolds, admirable sentimental Yet in the next session, in the captain's absence, has "chief officer;" to continue Mr Seddoo's metaphor, not only rang "full speed ahead" but apparently had a man sitting on the safety valve, a loan of a million and three quarters being one of the incidents of the trip. Possibly it ie because aiix Seddon is coining face to face with the results of that particular voyage that he is lifting up hie voice against borrowing and extravagance. It is high time, indeed, that he did recognise the dangerous course which the ship of Finance has been taking. Abandoning metaphor for figures, the mere statement of the increase in our expenditure and our indebtedness is sufficient to give pause to even the most reckless Colonial Treasurer. In the last decade the ordinary expenditure has increased oy something like 40 per cent. During the past six years the expenditure on public works has Increased from £865,000 to £2,193,000. We spent out of revenue in 1892 some four millions, in 1901 close upon six millions, while our loan expenditure leaped in the same period from £480,000 to £2,890,000. During the same decade the debt per head rose from £60 18s 4d to £67 Oβ lid. Iβ it any wonder that the Premier is alarmed at the prospect and declares that last session's appropriation for public works was " moTe than the country was entitled to?" We sincerely trust that he is at last determined to keep a tighter hold upon the expenditure and to shut his ears to suggestions of further borrowing. Unless this is the case—if his present attitude is but a passing thought—then the day of :eckoning of which he speaks cannot long b>3 dei»j«4.