The Globe. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 337, 12 July 1875, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1875.

Should the report which has been circulated throughout the colony turn oub to be true that Sir Julius Vogel has put a stop to free emigration, it will be one of the severest blows which we have received for a long time. It is admitted on all hands, by the opponents as well as the supporters of the immigration policy, that a continuous

streim of immigration is indispensable, to the success of the public works policy. The only hope the colony has of paying the interest on our enormously increased burdens, is by greatly increasing the taxpaying population. Few, except a few blinded enthusiasts, ever dream of the railways at present adding any considerable sum to the colonial revenues. They will no doubt develop our resources by affording rapid and easy transit for our products, but the revenue derived from them over and above their working expenses will be but a drop in the bucket towards the £900,000, which is now the annual charge on our public debt. With the £4,000,000 just raised the colony will have to complete all the projected railways, and, therefore, it must face the question of finding all the interest for our loans out of revenue, instead of charging the greater portion of it, as it hitherto has done against the loan. Where is the money to come from ? Clearly not from the railways. In Canterbury, with everything in our favour, our profit last year was only a few thousands. In Auckland they do not pay working expenses, and the Government are debiting the province with the difference. The same is the case in Wellington.

Nor can our Customs revenue be with safety increased materially. Any great addition to our Customs duties would only paralyze our commerce without adding any appreciable sum to our revenue. Unless, therefore, our population is largely increased during the next few years, property and income taxes must soon be imposed. Capital will be frightened from our shores, and a stagnation of trade and enterprise must inevitably follow. It is not necessary for us to point out that such a result would be most disastrous in its effects on every member of the community. Wages would fall, and poverty and misery would be the lot of a large portion of our working population. No one has dwelt more strongly on the supreme importance of population to the colony, than Sir Julius Vogel himself, and yet, if report speaks truly, one of the first acts he performs after securing the four million loan, is to put a stop to free emigration. It is said and believed in well - informed circles, that Messrs Eothschild before raising the loan, extracted a promise that the money then obtained, was all that was to be spent by the colony on the Public Works Scheme at present. It is said they required a full statement of the requirements of the colony from Mr Vogel, and endorsed by the Agent-General, but that when the figures were placed before Dr. Eeatherston, he refused to certify to them on the ground that a sufficient sum had not been allowed for immigration. The inference therefore is that Sir Julius Vogel has been forced by the money-lenders to put a stop to the tide of emigration in order to reduce our expenditure. A distinct assurance that no more loans would be placed on the market would make all the difference to those who syndicated it. And yet for the very doubtful advantage of raising the whole loan at once, the Premier has been induced to very seriously damage the future prospects of the colony. We hope sincerely that the report will prove untrue, and that Sir Julius Vogel will not have to answer for the crime of stopping free immigration in order the colony may place a large sum to its credit with its bankers, at two and a half per cent., for which the taxpayers are paying five.