THE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 917, 14 January 1871, Page 2

THE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

[evening NEWS, JAN. 7J If Mr Vogei had only deferred his departure for England till the next mail, he might have had to report the outbreak of another Maori war. Of that there is every present appearance, and nothing more is wanting to complete the breakdown of the policy of the Fox-cum-Yogel administration in all its parts. Their inability to bring the expenditure of the country within its revenue, without barrowing, is alarmingly notorious; their failure to force on the country a system of protective duties, —a tax on corn included, has been as disgraceful, as it was signal; and now, that on which tliey most prided themselves, —putting an end to the Maori war, by " butthering up and slithering down," to use an Hibernian phrase, those upon whom they should have kept a constant check, —has well nigh exhausted itself. Another Maori war may break out at any moment, —is» indeed, imminent as they themselves confess, by ordering the Virago round to the East Coast, to be in readiness for whatever may happen. The only " rag " of their policy now left, therefore, is borrowing, and, as nothing more can be done with that here, —further advances to the Treasury having been Vogel leaves for England to-day to see what can be done with it there. We are not of those who think borrowing a bad thing, when used with discrection, and kept within, the limits of repayment. But when a man cannot furnish his house without borrowing,- cannot set up in business without borrowing, cannot entertain his numerous friends without borrowing, cannot cross or re cross the street without borrowing, cannot hold his position without borrowing, and who, moreover, never thinks of returning what he does borrow, the less he has to do with it the better, And as iu private life, so also in public affairs. If a minister of the Crown can* not pay his way without borrowing, cannot make both ends meet without borrowing, cannot provide for the ordinary exigencies of the country, or do anything towards tiie promotion of its prosperity, without borrowing,-—and borrowing without any prospect of repayment, —the sooner a cheek is put on his indulgence in that propensity the better. We may be able to do little ourselves towards the imposition of such a check on Mr Vogel's propensity as is desirable. He has been surrounded with too many here, ready, from interested motives, to halloa him on in his folly, to make reinonstance of much avail. One's mouth has been stopped with a berth ; another's, with the prospect of the pickings to bo made out of a large government expenditure; and a third's, with all sorts of delusive fallacies as to the probable beneficial results of an extended system, of borrowing. But he is now going to a place in which there wiil be no further room for one or other of these, and where his propensity for extravagant borrowing is likely to meet with a rude, a. sudden, $

violent shock. We say, likely, and we think we might safely add, certainly, when we take into account what has already been said of his scheme on the London Stock Exchange. He will there meet with persons less mealy mouthed than Mr Tinne in formulating theories for the promotion of the prosperity of the country. Mr Tinne's formula, when lecturing for the New Zealand Protection League, was, that this might either be done " by Legging, borrowing, or stealing," and he was careful to distinguish between these. But when Mr Vogel has to expound his scheme for promoting the prosperity of New Zealand in England, there are good reasons for believing that no such distinction will be drawn. It will be looked upon as a scheme in which " begging, borrowing, and stealing" are rolled up into one. With our present indebtedness of seven millions to the British public, he will be told, none but a mendicant would importune the advance of another five millions, and were they to make themselves parties to this, they should be sanctioning a species of political •* thimblerigging." He will be told that a man may do what he will with his own, but that he ought not to be allowed to abstract from others what he has no prospect of repaying, at the risk of ruining the country he professes to be desirious o[ serving. Such, at all events, is our expectation and our hope. If otherwise, so much the worse will it be for us. We shall be ruined in in spite of all our efforts to avert it. We shall be made the unwilling victims of designing political charlatanry.