The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 2864, 24 April 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1872.

Victorian experience is forcing useful economic truths upon attention, which ■we in New Zealand should take care to profit by. According to the Hon. F. D, Bell, in his address at Invercargill, an attempt will be made to check the industrial development commenced by the present Government. Were we altogether outside the Colony, and unacquainted with the class of men who contrive to persuade electors they are capable of ruling the destinies of a country, we should say, Surely such an insane idea cannot be entertained for a moment. But knowing the ignorance of even the commonest economic principles so largely imported into our Legislature, we shall not be surprised at any absurdity. Fortunately we are not altogether at the mercy of these blundering representatives, The opinion of the electors, to

a certain extent, keeps them in check, and therefore it is necessary that the people outside should keep themselves well informed on those questions which it will not do to allow, uninfluenced, parliament to decide. The pet argument of the Opposition is the burden of taxation involved in the construetion of public works. Some of our journalists, whose notions of industrial economy must have been derived from old world progenitors of Noah, urge this again and again. It is not sutticient to point out that wherever a: railway has been made in New Zealand it has more than paid interest on the money invested. The words “ borrow ” and “ tax ” go_ together in their minds. They cannot imagine that “ borrowing ” may be profitable, and an ease to taxation. That in fact the use of money may be had for a less per centage than the amount earned. But even supposing a railway only paid working expenses, it would be cheap compared with a common road. Yet, if it were proposed to form a metalled road, there is scarcely one of these men with antedeluvian bringing-up |that would not feel justified in voting for it. They have found out the difference in Victoria. A very little reflection should teach this to any man able to put two and two together and tot up the sum. The Minister of Railways in Victoria put the matter in a very clear light at a conference with certain delegates who sought the advantage of railway communication, and here is the result of his experience :

He was of opinion that, with paying railways, the Government ought not to continue the construction of main roads, which cost from a hi,ooo to L 1.500 per mile, and took LI 50 per mile :to keep in repair, while there was no return from them.

This is precisely the opinion we have many time expressed. Common roads are a continual drain upon our resources and limited in their utility. Railroads are a continual source of profit, direct or indirect, and practically unlimited in their advantages. That there must be a period during which no return is received for money invested is equally true ot railways and metalled roads, and it may require a somewhat longer time to construct the one than to make the other. This is natural. Most good machinery involves a greater expenditure of labor than crude primitive instruments. A plough costs more than the crooked bough which the Syrian yokes to his donkey; but not even our men of antedeluvian education would wish to go back to that. Yet there is no difference in principle between doing so and striving to stay the construction of railways. We are quite prepared to admit that the general adoption of railways will ultimately involve a complete change in our mode of transport of commodities into and from the interior. As their utility becomes more and more developed, tramways will supersede district roads, and vehicles adapted to travel on them and on the railway, will be found cheaper and handier than four wheeled waggons drawn by six or seven horses, grinding away the road and their own tires and shoes. Large farmers too may find it economical to introduce the tramway system ou to their farms, just as the meat preserving companies and other systematically worked establishments transport loads from one department to another on tramroads. All these arrangements are in the future, and will be adopted at no very distant date. Every change of this description is an advantage. It tends to widen the field of industry, to increase profits, to keep up wages, and to open up new markets. What we, as constituencies have to do is to watch lest local and partial interests should overbear the Government in their efforts for the general good. This is what has to be guarded against. The tendency is already manifested. There is hard pulling in the North to get the lion’s share, and however desirous a government may be to act for the best, division amongst our own members may render them powerless to resist the strain.