THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 804, 14 July 1870, Page 3

THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

f Prom tlie Nelson Evening Mail, July I.] We yesterday referred briefly to the Financial Statement of the Colonial Treasurer, but the matter therein contained is of such vast importance to the future of the Colony, that we must be pardoned if* we revert to it once more and at greater length. The more carefully we pel use the speech, and the closer we look into the probable consequences of the carrying out of the policy shadowed forth in it, the more fully are we convinced that its adoption would be fraught with ruin, and, we may say shame, to the colony. Ruin — because it would hopelessly involve us in a inaze of debt from which we could never extricate ourselves; shame—because we should be entering that maze with our eyes open, and with the full consciousness that we were burdening ourselves with undertakings which we could never even hope to be in a position to meet. To use a homely illustration. A trader, owing to the badness of the times, finds that he is unable to pay his way; he is perfectly well aware that it is only with the utmost care and economy that he can keep his head above water, and yet he makes use ol his credit to contract debts, the repayment of which is simply an impossibility. Any one, he says, can fail for a small amount, but I w»ll do tfce thing respectably ; the debts of other bankrupts are measured by hundreds, mine shall consist of thousands, and, if I can contrive to deceive my credi. tors to that extent, by millions.' Such appears to us to be the tenor of Mr Vogel's Budget. He vainly strives by a thick cloud of words and figures to conceal from his hearers the conviction which nevertheless it is quite evident is indelibly impressed upon his mind that the state of our finances is such as to appal the most sanguine ; he tries to put a cheerful face on matters, and boldly ignoring all dilliculties, he comes forward with a magnificent scheme for borrowing six millions in addition to our already intolerable debt. Does not repudiation seem to be shadowed forth iu such a proposal ? A colony, already deeply involved, struggling and staggering under its heavy burden, is invited to add to that burden, to the tune of an additional six millions ! Were our finances in a flourishing state, were we free from debt, were we not engaged in a miserable warthat drains our Treasury of every shilling, then, indeed, we might view with favorable eyes so grand a scheme as that proposed by Mr Vogel; but in our present state who shall say that we are justified in adding so enormously to our national debt? Whai probability would there be of our being able to meet our engagements ? Already we owe seven millions, and we* would ask, are the prospects of the colony such as to jnstil'y us in burdening those who have to t'ol.ow us with a debt amounting to nearly double that sum? Bailways form a desirable means of opening np the country, and none would be better pleased than ourselves to see Auckland ana Wellington, Nelson and Southland connected by the iron road, with its various branches in different directions ; but even such a complete system as that proposed by the Treasurer may be purchased at too large a price, and the ruin entailed upon the Colony by the vast undertaking would be far from being compensated for by the in creased facilities for communication. In order to induce avowed Provincialists to give their support to his scheme, Mr Vogel has skilfully baited his hook with a most tempting morsel. Aid me, he says, in passing my measures through the House, and I will undertake that there shall be paid to the provinces £52,00U a year more than they have hitherto received. But beneath the bait the hook is so plain, so palpabif, that even the most greedy oi chose for whose support he is fishing must nesitate before they bite at the delicate morsel. That Mr Vogel should have propounded such a scheme does not surprise us —he is known to have no stake in ihis country and to be one to whom its future is consequently a matter of complete indifference —but that Mr Fox should have endorsed his reckieoa proposals is to us a matter of the greatest

astonishment; and we have no hesitation in saying that the doom of the* Fox-Vogel Ministry was sealed on the day that their Financial statement went forth to the public as a panacea for the grievous complaint of impecuniosity from/which the colony is at present suffering to so painful an extent. The proposed alterations in the tariff will hardly, we imagine, be accepted with much satisfaction. The duty on wheat, amounting to about 6d per bushel, is quite sufficient to alarm those who are strongly opposed to this introduction of the thin end of the wedge of Protection, while, at the same time, it will not satisfy the farmers and others who are desirous of seeing an appreciable tax placed on foreign produce. The mining community appears to have been entirely ignored in the additions made to the import duties, for we find that all such articles of consumption as bacon and hams, salt beef and pork, butter, cheese, biscuits, &c, which are used principally by the diggers, are to be more heavily taxed than heretofore; while the only reductions that will at all affect them are the trifling ones of Is per cwt. on sugar, and tlie doing away with the duty on tools.

We are not surprised to find that even the Colonist, hitherto a staunch supporter of the present Ministry, has, in this morn ing's issue, "damned with faint praise" the proposed re-adjustment of the tariff, while it condemns the wild scheme of borrowing propounded in the Budget speech, We repeat once more our firm conviction that an outcry will be raised throughout New Zealand against the Colonial Trea- ; surer's system of finance that will not be; allayed until the Ministry have paid the penalty of their rashness in their ejectment from the Treasury Benches.

I The following is the opinion of the Nelson Examiner on the financial scheme:: — " We cannot trust ourselves to speak of it fully until we have given it further consideration, but our impresssion of it is, that to distract attention from lhe frightful state of the finances of the Colony, Mr Vogel has propounded a wild scheme of borrowing and expenditure, which it would be utterly impossible to carry out. Government propose to largely increase the taxation of the country by imposing duties on articles of necessary consumption—to abandon the principles of free trade and impose protective duties, and as a compensation, remove duties on such articles as iron gates, sad-irons, arsenic, &c, that contribute little to the revenue, and the taxes on which are not felt by the general consumer. If such a scheme of finance is suffered to come into operation, the future of the Colony will be deplorable indeed."