THE LOAN SYSTEM.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 136, 21 August 1863, Page 3

THE LOAN SYSTEM.

Dr. Munro in speaking in the Provincial Council of Nelson of a Railway Loan Bill, said:— He would ask Hie Council ns reasonable men, and as men of business, if any joint stock company in the world would for one moment entertain a pi’oposal of this kind, or authorise the borrowing of money for such a purpose, with so little definite material laid before them ? We knew very little of the coal of the province. All we did know was, that coal would exist, and that it was of good quality. But if it was intended .to work the Buller coal in the manner at first proposed, what with the very high price of labor here, and the difficult engineering he .felt assured it would prove a dead failure, and be a great loss to the province. The present time was, it must be admitted, a very favorable time for the provinces borrowing money, because the General Government were so very pliant in agreeing to the schemes of the provinces. Canterbury borrowed half a million ; Auckland, half a million ; he was not sure of Wellington, but its loan was very large too; Otago had borrowed half a million ; the new southern province of Southland had also borrowed largely ; even Taranaki, which might at present be said to be living on alms, had its loan of £75,000 ; and Hawke’s Bay, one of £60,000. And the time was propitious for loans. If anything like a feasible rapid scheme had been brought forward, one that could be shown would pay, he would have . supported this loan bill. There was one thing regarding the present borrowings of the .'provinces ; these borrowings were taking place at a time when not half the former security' could bo offered in payment of the principal. The Nelson Colonist thus comments on the

above question ;-rOne more fact and we have done. Dr. Monro, a few weeks ago said in the Council, that the proportion of the colonial debt of New Zealand falling to each individual soul in the colony far exceeded that of Great Britain. This is quite correct. At home tlm debt per head of population is about £25 ; —here it is over £35. Well then, add for this province alone, leaving out the increasing general debt the war is creating, other .£300,000 as is proposed, and for which no return is shown, and at one fell swoop the debt per head in Nelson is increased to £65, nearly three times that of the National debt of Great Britain. Take another view. Of males in this province there arc about 4200 of six- years old and upwards, 1200 being of the'ages from six to sixteen. By borrowing this money it is proposed to place on the shoulders of each of these 4200 males an unproductive debt of upwards of £7O, which, with the debt above-mentioned, and holding; the males as the really responsible persons,—the bread winners, in fact, and the tinders of the sinews 'of taxation —would place against the" name of every male from 10 years old and upwards a debt of nearly £l5O. We commend these figures to the calm and careful consideration of all colonists who mean to make tin's province their home, and who have in view the future prosperity of the country, and of those they leave behind them. It is proposed to introduce a, certainty of taxation, and in lifetf thereof nothing tangible, but something which,' as Mr. Elliott himself remarked at the meeting last week, regarding the cost of the railway, is “mere conjecture,” and nothing more.