THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, NOV. 15, 1909 THE BUDGET.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 208, 15 November 1909, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, NOV. 15, 1909 THE BUDGET.

THE Budget issued by the Prime Minister last week may be classed as being in every sense a remarkable effort, and if there were any reasonable expectation of the manifold proposals being placet! on the statute book during the present sitting of Parliament the session would be handed down to posterity as a remarkable epoch in the political history of the Dominion. The firmness and ability with which many delicate questions have been bandied, and the wide grasp evinced of the rapidly inreasing financial and social affairs of the Dominion must have a reassuring effect on the people as a whole apart from political bias in any direction. The Budget issued by the Prime Minister, as leader of the Government, is not merely the work of tbe Cabinet. In a general sense it is the condensed expression of the best efforts of our parliament modified in a given direction according to the policy of the party in j>ower. In a financal sense it represe! - the efforts of the Government to r ltae the country's affairs, and -lop tbe country's resources, to h- ut.-i advantages of tbe people of the Dominion. In the present Budget the , ramifications of tbe various financial ;

operations arc placed clearly Ic-rorc-'he public, ar.d despite recent disturblimits in future is ir.di'-ai.iv.-- r,f so'-jr.-: policy in this direct;"::. T:k- ::r provision mad.- for Advar. lers and obtaining of 1 oar..- y J.e-ca: Bodies is a significant tr.'i:-;at:<T. tnat the Government is fully alive o i : -.c great importance of settling the- u:> occupied lands, and facilitating tr.e development of our back block districts. It is to be devoutly hoped this policy will be thoroughly endorsed by the provision on the Public Works Estimates of ample grants for our roads—a phase of the settlement question which has received far too little attention in the past. Much good work in the direction of opening up the land for settlement may be rendered abortive, and progress indefinitely retarded by the lack of sufficient provision for roading. However active and progressive settlement proposals may appear, unless such proposals make ample and definite provision for proper roads, and allocate the burden of cost equitably from the very initiation of the scheme, that policy carries with it a fatal weakness, which will cause endless and needless hardship to the people immediately affected, and react prejudically upon the prosperity of the whole Dominion. Such has been our bitter experience in the past, and unless those who are responsible ! for the framing of our settlement policy are awakened to the urgent neces- . sity of this phase of the question we | may have the same old grievance with 1 us until the last available acre has ! been settled.