The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1884.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3971, 12 April 1884, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1884.

While we are not among tho warm admirers of Mr Montgomery, who sco in him all the elements that constitute true statesmanship, we still admire tho man for his undoubted integrity, and tho manner in which ho brings that rich gift, common sense, to bear on the questions of the day. We have no faith in him as a parliamentary leader. If we were inclined to be cynical we would say his very honesty and straightforwardness would disqualify him for the position. He is no leader of men ; lie lacks tact; but as a shrewd hard-headed politician, who has all his eyes and ears always open, his speeches arc well worthy ot careful persual. With much of tho speech delirered on Thursday night wo cordially amreo, -while hero and there we must take exception to the views put forward. As ho himself said, he had but little to criticise, for Maior Atkinson had put forth no programme on which tho Ministry were cither prepared to stand or fall; but, on the contrary, had sought to lose his hearers in a mist of words. This to a great extent militated against tho speech we are now noticing, as Mr Montgomery, as nominal leader of the Opposition, as in duty bound, followed tho Premier pretty closely, and in that lies the weakness of his speech. There was too mnch of the "critic apparent and not enough of the politician, and when the critic had nothing definitely laid down by his opponent to attack his speech was necessarily all the weaker on that account. Mr Montgomery has laid down four causes of tho present depression in tho other' island, and upon these he founds that part of his speech that is hot devoted to acting the part of critic. The first of these is the immense annual drain for interest on the public debt, and he truly says where the shoe pinches is that that interest is being paid on many uuremunerative works carried out for political purposes alone, aud in no period of our history has political expenditure for political support been greater than during tho last thrco years. His second cause is the excessive departmental expenditure, and on this point Mr Montgomery has given utterance toI. sound Views, whii* we ourselves

have always advocated. He says if "the government had steadily for the Inst four years seized every opportunity of lessening the number of officials by not filling up vacancies when they occurred, by amalgamating offices, and generally simplifying the work to bo done, an immense saving would have boon effected, and the service placed on a footing more satisfactory to tho Civil Servants themselves." Mr Montgomery, in these remarks, will havo every thoughtful man in the community with him. "With his next two causes we are not in accord with tho speaker. To say that the best land in New Zealand is in tho hands of those who will neither cultivates nor sell at a price that would enable others to work it with profit is simply playing to ;he prejudices of the political pit, and is an inducement to the thriftless to join tho ranks of land nationalisators or some other equally useless class of demagogues. His fourth cauae is absenteeism, to cure which he advocates a tax. The depression at present existing in New Zealand may be great, but what would it bo if those absontee proprietors and money lenders were to withdraw let us say the fifty millions they havo invested in the colony ? An absentee tax is a class tax of the worst kind, and impose it as we may in tho long run it would fall on the men of the colony. If -we tax the money lent on mortgage here, we must know, if we follow the matter carefully, that that tax is paid by the borrower, and do what wo may, produce heroic mensuro after heroic measure, the result is still the same, the borrower would havo to pay it. Ho struck better key notes when he said borrowing must cease, and federation was but a snaro. Mr Montgomery says the Premier alone is responsible for the present financial troubles, and docs not hesitate to say that a Ministor who had three months' returns to guide him—• tho first three months of the year were gone beforo the estimates were brought on —and then makes an error of some £200,000 can be no financier. He says with soino force, seeing the Premier has no cure for the present state of affairs, that the House should have been summoned at the close of the finnncial year, and maintains that tho Ministry, knowing it is doomed, did not do so for tho snko of office and its sweets. Like many other members who have spoken during the recess, he has declared himself in favor of the railways being managed by a non-political board, one for each island, and here, reading between the lines, wo see that Canterbury wants exceptional treatment, and tho speaker, being a Canterbury member, forgets not only that he is leader of the Opposition, but that he aspires to be a colonial politician. He may be assured of one thing, that differential rates on tho colonial lines will never bo tolerated, even when those lines are worked and managed by an 'outside hoard. The money to make those lines was borrowed by the colony and not the district, and if the line is successful the colony must reap tho benefit and not the district. 'Where the . savings would be effected by a non-political ! board wo may be sure would be in . working expenses, which arc at present ah--1 normally high, and we venture to say that those lines which are non-productive, such as the Taranaki line, and have no immediate ! present prospect of becoming payable, should be at once lifted, as it would be much bettor to bear tho first loss than to continue to expend money on what would novor be profitable. If we did that we would only bo following the example of two at least of tho Australian colonies, who, when they saw that they had made mistakes in constructing certain railways, at once lifted them and utilized tho material elsewhere. While we strenously have advocated a non-political board to manago those railways Aye must and will continue to oppose what inferentially Mr Montgomery advocates, that certain districts must receive better treatmentthan their neighbors, andf or him to advocate such is certainly inconsistent with his stale, selfish, narrow cry of New Zealand for the New Zoalanders, which must exclude altogether the cry of Canterbury for Canterbury men. His speech as a whole is a good one, tho speaker giving utterance to his views clearly in tho language of every-day use, and even if it lacks tho rhetorical brilliancy of the Premier's there are many who will think it none tho worse on that account, because what is meant is said straight out without beating about tho bush.