Untitled

Dunstan Times, Issue 424, 3 June 1870, Page 2

The proposal of his Honor the Superintendent to borrow 650,000?. for the construction of works of public utility, we are afraid, is no more likely to be realized than that the money, as his Honor thinks, can be borrowed at five per cent, interest. In the first place, the indebtedness of the province is such that unless fresh taxes are imposed we could not pay the intovootj ontl -fclio Ounoml Aftoomblj ■would not be likely to sanction the loan unless they could be fully assured that this could be done, while the eventual repayment of the whole amount would have also to be provided for. For a small community we are pretty well indebted already. The debt of the province, amounting to the nice little sum of 781,000?., abstracting from our annual provincial revenue 54,000?. for interest, the proposed annexation of Southland would increase our indebtedness t01,223,500?., and the united annual payment for interest and sinking fund would be 81,270?. Nothing is therefore more apparent than that we are already, or Very soon will be, burdened with such a load of debt that it will be difficult to carry, and when we come to consider that the proposed loan is for works which at best are purely experimental, some hesitation is necessary before we become borrowers, as who can say that the proposed works will be successful, or that the amount proposed to borrow will be sufficient to complete them. In the first place the success of the Clutha railway is extremely problematical The population is too small for such a work, and were it even increased twenty fold it could scarcely prove remunerative. A good road will supply all we want for very many years to come. The area of arable land is too circumscribed to permit of much grain being grown for export. Flax flourishes near the sea. As to wool, that production is not at all likely to increase j and a few score waggons will easily perform that service during three months out of the year. Considering the conformation of the interior portions of the province we may, as a rule, take it for granted that they will produce little beyond the requirements of local consumption except in the articles of wool and gold, the carriage of the latter being a mere bagatelle in comparison to its value. For water supply on the goldfields, 100,000?. would be well laid out; but this might be obtained by a guarantee upon private outlay, or repayment in land, A direct expenditure is therefore obviated. Immigration, 60,000?., is extremely desirable, but roads must be formed, or rather made servicable, so that the population proposed to be introduced might be able to penetrate up-coantry, and so find employment, Oamaru dock, 20,000?.; embankment

of rivers, 50,000?. would be money thrown away. Tho success of either scheme, notwithstanding the opinions of Mr. J. T. Thomson, is extremely questionable, and we cannot alford to try the experiment Waikouaiti bridge, 600?.; Shag hiver bridge, 700?. ; Lower Mataura bridge, 200? ; making in all 11,700?., with 50,000?. additional for immigration, are the only items for which money can be safely borrowed. These works are indispensable and would prove indirectly remunerative, and the sum requited for their construction might probably be easily and readily obtained. Roads on the goldfields are ignored altogether. These will, we will charitably suppose, be supplied by the Clutha railway some time during the next generation. Even unon the question of water supply we look with much suspicion. Nothing is said as to how the money is to be expended, and common sense would dictate that be fore borrowing 100,000?. some details connected with its expenditure would have been entered into. The proposal is too crude to be genuine. We hope that members representing goldfields will look well after the interests of their several constituents before sanctioning the expenditure of public money elsewhere.