PARLIAMENTARY.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 39, 23 September 1867, Page 235

PARLIAMENTARY.

The partial reports we received on Sunday last, by. the Lord Ashley, of the proceedings in Parliament, show us that the present financial depression, not only of this, but of all the Australian colonies, has forced on the minds of honorable members the necessity for and conse-

quently the elaborate budget of Ministers has undergone an ordeal of no ordinary character. Almost the whole time of the House, since the date of our previous files, has been taken up by the debate on the Financial Question, and there is good reason to hope that the amended Estimates, which will be published as soon as it is possible to do so after the debate is ended, will exhibit a marked reduction on that brought down by Mr Fitzlierbert. It is proposed to begin at head-quarters, by a reduction of the salary given to the Governor of .=£2ooo, which it is well able to bear, as it will, even then, be left at the goodly sum of £2,500 : certainly quite as much as the Colony can afiord, or ought, to pay for the luxury of a representative of the Imperial Government. In fact, it is the actual sum stipulated to be paid by the Constitution Act. An amendment is proposed to make it £3,500, precisely, by the way, the same as was paid to the late Governor Col. Gore Browne. This is but the first step iu the course of retrenchment proposed, and which includes a corresponding reduction on all salaries over £3OO per annum. Mr Fitzherbert’s ready wit, and power of illustrating a dry subject with more or less appropriate anecdote, gave a favorable reception to his Financial Statement at the time of its delivery, which after-study on the part of members failed to confirm. Scarce one of the members who have taken part in the debate are able to award it their unqualified approval, but it strangely occurs that even the extreme Provincial party, with lew exceptions, are more satisfied with it than the Centralist, who have, till this time, been represented by the Government. The liberal concessions it has made to the Provincialists are received by them in the same spirit in which they are given, and there is small doubt but that the main features of the budget will remain intact, subject only to such reductions and modifications as the state of the Colony imperatively demands.

Could we hope that the party now striving for retrenchment in the cost vf Government will be able to effect what is necessary, we should have reason to look on the state of depres sion through which we are passing as a great blessing in disguise, but such a change as that would amount to in the Ministerial policy is vain to hope for at present. We must, however, be thankful for such an instalment as we may be able to get, and trust that the progress of popular enlightenment will render other and greater changes speedily matter of necessity. • We think that no one can deny that the present depression is the penalty contingent on the subsidence of the artificial excitement occasioned by anticipating the resources of the Colony by borrowing. Borrowed money is usually scattered with a ready hand, producing a temporary and unhealthy prosperity, hut it leaves behind it real burthens in the shape of interest, more or less heavy, which must be met; sinking funds for the ultimate extin guishment of the debt, which must be provided. Thus it is temporary, partial, and more apparent than real in any good it accomplishes; but permanent, universal, and terribly substantial in the evil it leaves behind it. Yet it seems that we must suffer still more from this cause, ere our legislators will awake to the only wise plan of reducing our expenditure within the limits of our abilities, and ceasing to calculate on prospective prosperity, and pledging the future revenues of the Colony to repay loans extravagantly expended.