The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2989, 24 January 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1881.

The Dunedin Star of a late date hae a well written leading article on the " Public Works and Immigration policy," which is an able defence of Sir Julius Vogel's scheme. Our Southern contemporary says that those who recollect the condition of the colony in 1868-69, the extent of settlement, the character of the population, the value of property, the rate of wages in proportion to the profits of employers, and the returns from realised property, must of necessity acknowledge that a progress unequalled in the history of any British colonisation has marked in ITew Zealand the decade which terminated on the 31st December, 1880. True, there have been extravagance and even wilful waste in the expenditure of borrowed money: that is an accident almost inseparable from Parliamentary Government, which on occasion gives the opportunity to eloquent incapacity or skilful combinations of mediocrity to take in hand the tiller without the opportunity or judgment to steer the ship. The singular fatality which at a critical period placed the Grey Cabinet in office has one way or the other cost the colony much money : but it is a question whether even this, although apparently wasted, has not been profitably spent, in that the eyes

of the people have been opened, so that in future tbe exuberant utterances of stump democrats and " carpet bag" patriots are not at all likely to delude constituents outside the Provincial district of Auckland. New Zealand haa a heavy public debt in proportion to the population. This is a theme which a section of the London Press are .never tired of descanting on ; and ths name and fame of this colony are constantly U9ed to point a moral as to tbe recklessness of young communities who, strong in the spirit of their race, dare much with but small material resources. It is altogether forgotten—we believe not infrequently wilfully ignored —that the millions expended under the Immigration and Public Works scheme have not been hopelessly nor unremuneratively sunk, but that, directly, the expenditure ia likely to prove an excellent investment; whilst the indirect advantage to the Colony would be difficult of calculation in black and white. There has been no "collapse of the Public " Works Scheme " as some will have it. The railways originally projected have been completed or are in the course of beiug so; but the present Ministry have done right in holding their hands so far as nob undertaking the construction of new lines which the circumstances of the country do not urgently require. They have acted prudently also in reducing the cost of working the constructed railways, the management of which was fouud to have been conducted in a manner hardly consistent with the extent and importance of the traffic. Ho far from illustrating a feature of the Immigration and Public Works scheme, the retrenchment policy of the Hall Cabinet bids fair to ensure its complete success.