The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1882.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3579, 30 December 1882, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1882.

The London Times has been good enough to offer advice to the colonies. As the money lender of the world England, perhaps, has the right to speak to borrowers through the channels of one of its leading journals. With New Zealand and Victoria both seeking to raise money, a text for an editorial article was offered that could not have been resisted by the Times. \Bence it haa been cabled* to us out here that the Times •' recommends that the colonies should devote their surplus revenue to the prosecution of public works instead of raising loans for that purpose, and advises that liberal assistance should be extended to persons desiring to emigrate to the coloniep." It probably never occurred to the writer of the article that the colonies are fairly well able to look after their own affairs, and that his recommendation is not likely to be ac'ed upon. It is no doubt very kind and very natural for the wealthy to make believe that a borrower has a surplus revenue to deal with, but it is extremely unnatural to suppose that the borrower can be deceived on the subject. If tbe Times really does believe that the colonic a borrow when they have sufficient in their hands to prosecute their public works, it must be more egregiously foolish than even its contemporaries take it to be. The sum and substance of the advice tendered is—don't borrow anything from us, but rather send us as much as ever you can to relieve us of the pressure of our population. It is passing etrauge that the idea did not suggest itself to the Times thaf, if England paid something towards the passage of emigrants, whose departure from her shores benefits these who stay behind, it would only be just and fair to the colonies. But nothing of the sort appears to have struck the mind of the writer. To the average stay-at-hotre Englishman the colonies are not pleasant places to think about. They serve a useful purpose in trade statisticp, as showing the greatness of the Empire, but their habit of borrowing takes awty the pleasure of contemplating their enormous business transactions with the old country. A private letter from Home says " tbe proposed loan of three millions which New Zealand, wants excited some comments in one of our papers:— •We are told the colony is in a most prosperous condition, and with that announcement are asked for three millions.' It seems a contradiction." It perhaps does so, but if our condition was the reverse of prosperous Englishmen would rather lend their money to Mexico, with the certainty of losing it, than advance a sixpence to us. It ia only when we are prosperous that we can afford to borrow, and the more we borrow for the development of our natural resources the more prosperous shall we become. Sir Julius Vogel, speaking the other day at Dunedin, said :—" When I think of the conditions under which railways iv the colony like this have been constructed —in that you have no competition, no preliminary expenses, no difficult financing, no expense for obtaining the Jands over which your lines have to be constructed—l come to the conclusion that railway construction is so eminently profitable that any Government who refuse to take advantage of it are quite unaware of the advantages to be gaiiied by it. It is not a matter of wonder to me that all Governments of the colony take up the same policy. The only wonder to me is that long before we co-nmenced our railways, that commencement was not made. I have notified many cases, in various lands, and even in Great Britian itself, of. railways which appeared to be in an almost desperate financial condition, yet, by the mere force dfrtheir inherent value, have retrieved their position and become prosperous concerns. If you give me a piece of land upon which no population is settled—let it be of a tolerably fertile character—l say it would be worth while constructing a railway through it, provided always that though there was no population at present, you could see the way to its population in the future." New Zealand does see its way to fill up the blank places in the country with an industrious population, and that is justification sufficient to borrow money for the prosecution of public works. Sir Julius Vogel, speaking at Wellington on Thursday, said " the visitor was constantly reminded as he travelled through the colony of the want of population. In 1870 we aspired to convert 250,000 persons into 500,000. We ought to be more ambitious now, and seek to convert that £500,000 into a million.