MR FOX ON THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Issue 3193, 15 May 1873, Page 3

MR FOX ON THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND.

“ I consider that wc have at present a very good average House of Representatives; and if the constituencies would only take care in all instances to be sure that their Representatives “do” represent them, and would not suffer them by their pretences of independence to disturb the ju«t balance of parties, and the chances of legitimate political calculation, that body would be as celebrated for its stability of purpose and energy of action as it has always been for its great intelligence and high moral tone. After leading that House on one side or the other for s i many years, as I have had the honor to do, I can say that I do not believe there is any representative body in the world actuated by greater purity of motive, more entirely free from corruption, and better fitted to be the depository of the national welfare 'and the national honor than that which now sits in the people’s House of the Parliament of New Zealand. . . . And now a few words on the future. I am confident that a great future is before us, and especially in this northern island if the policy, which we inau gurated four years -ago is steadily carried out. To stick in the mud that we may save sixpence, is not a policy which ever yet made any country or any individual prosperous The resources of the old world and of the new, of Plum pea n monarchies, of the great Republic of the United States, of the young Australian Colonics, have all been developed and arc being developed by the application of borrowed capital rcproductively employed. On this basis rests the material progress of every nation which is racking progress. On this rests the success of commerce, manufactures, and trade all the world over. The capitalist who does not work, lends his money to the man who works but has no capital; they divide the profit. It is the same with national progress, and it can be achieved in no other way that 1 can see. As well might wc hope to reap crops without sowing seed, as to grow wealthy if we spend nothing to create wealth. In new countries we have nothing to spend, and must borrow, as men must for new undertakings in old countries. It is true we are burdening posterity. But posterity with railroads will be very*well able to bear the burden, and will in its turn, I hope, develop more prosperity, by laying more burdens on its posterity. The policy which my' Ministers inaugurated was only the first instalment of what the country must do for perhaps centuries to come. Ten millions will not, perhaps not a hundred wid suffice to eredc all*the public works you will require. On the other hand, you may wait long enough for the development of your resources if you f How the policy recommended by Bir David Mourn, till by saving sixpences you arc first able to dig ditches and tract-}, then make macadamised roads, and possibly in some remote geological period, when Mount Egmont and Ruapehu have been levelled to the plains by atmospheric degradation, you may attain to the dignity of your first railway. Make ditches and tracks and macadamised roads if yon like, but let them be feeders, not substitutes for railways. But let me conclude with one word of warning. Only on one condition will foreign capital flow into our Colony. Only on one condition will immigrants accompany it. That condition is the maintenance of peace with the native race. Lord Clarendon, in his history of the great civil war, tells us of Lord Falkland, one of the noblest who fought on the side of the King, that he would lay his head on his hands and oft times would ejaculate ‘ Peace, peace, peace ! ’ Such should ever be the aspiration of the. Government of New Zealand. ’