The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, May 4, 1864.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 106, 4 May 1864, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, May 4, 1864.

The statements of Ministers of Finance in these latter times have come to be considered the true barometers of the progress and prosperity of the country to which they relate. They now comprehend the statements of policy that used to be the duty of the Prime Minister to give, and the general policy of even such a great country as England is biassed to a great extent by the annual statements of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. What is true of a great nation is more strongly so, when it refers to a young nation, entrusted with the principles of self government, and especially when it has the same powers granted of doing either good or evil, of acting wisely or foolishly, of promulgating doctrines calculated to promote progress or to cause retrogression. The budgets of Australian colonies are yearly being made more comprehensive and attract more attention; they can be tested by the principles laid down. Beyond a very limited circle indeed, the budget of Otago will claim no general interest. The reason of this is, that New Zealand is so split up into small sections or provinces—each with its Council, Prime Minister, Treasurer, and Budget—that beyond the immediate Province concerned, a financial statement is little considered. The generality of the population either do not understand, or do not care to make themselves acquainted with the intricacies and complexities of New Zealand politics. There are no general results to grasp at, no great combination of interests represented, no healthy united action forced upon the community. It would therefore be unfair to apply a severe test to the recent financial statement made by the Treasurer, and the heads of which we gave in our last. We are willing to give some credit for its elaborateness, for its arrangement of figures and the contrasts that are offered—for the glowing terms in which our prosperity is shadowed forth, and for the evident pains taken in giving the fullest information of our accounts. But here we stop; we cannot join our contemporaries in saying it possesses claims to the high statesmanship they claim for it. It is not a " masterpiece," as the Daily News styles it, though it may be the ablest financial document presented to a New Zealand Assembly. We take exception to what policy there is in it, and our remarks do not refer to figures. The first subject, and the key-stone of the whole affair, in the successAd LoatLg of a loan i

! to rid us of the encumbrance of an over-expen-diture, bearing a heavy rate of interest; and, though not stated by the Treasurer, also taxing the resources of our banking institutions, and acting thereby prejudicially upon the commercial interest, and so on through the chapter. On the* other hand, the Treasurer rather plumes himself on being the statesman his friends give him credit for* He speaks with satisfaction of having monopolised the capital of one bank, and would no doubt like to make common property of the others also. However, we will let the Treasurer speak for himself:—" A spirit of over- " trading, which was fast growing into a "species of recklessness, has received a " healthy check, while the resources of the " Province have been judiciously employed; " and now, sir, a steady and sound improving " state of trade indicates that the Province is " again steadily advancing in that path of pro- " gress which is destined to place her in her " almost certain position—the first Province "ofNew Zealand." It is certainly a novel announcement, and i financiers will congratulate the Treasurer | upon so happy and opportune a discovery. It sadly reminds us, and perhaps many others, of the fable of the frog and the boys. But this loan, so much harped upon—the successful negociation of which, secured by hypothecating: the lands and creating a fixed debt and an increased demand upon our revenue for interest, we are told, will "place us in a " position that Otago has never been placed " in, as regards prosperity:" and shortly afterwards we m et this statement:—" We can- " not be continually borrowing, and I must "confess that hitherto the expenditure has " partaken more of the character of a scram- " blefor the money than an actual application "of it to the real requirements of the Pro- " vince: it would not be difficult to point "out numerous cases of wasteful expendi- " ture." Are we going to be in a muddle again, or what doei- all this mean ? Where is the statesmanship in the loan question; in the manner of representing it, or the objects for which it is required ? Apart from the subjects of the loans recommended, there are other very serious subjects to support us in the position we have taken upon this much lauded budget. We could show the fallacies of many of the statements made—the utter absence of any regard to future policy. We cannot see anything else in it. Let the whole policy enunciated be followed through, and we find ready money from loans to pay pressing claimants the snmmiim bonum; a pleasing, brilliant, delusive sop being thrown to them and reference to hypothecating the lands, which means two things—first, leasing the lands; secondly, driving away the population—a trading upon the revenue of the goldfields, and a prophecy that, as every ounce of gold extracted from the soil has made Otago richer, we may look for the same results hereafter. This, we are grieved to say, is the policy of the Treasurer: let the Government be rich—whether at the expense of a banking corporation or not is a matter of little moment. Is not the Government rich, is a question often asked. We answer, read our Provincial Chanc llor of the Exchequer's budget. Certainly that high functionary believes that i* the Government is well off, the people and country are also prosperous. We question this, the most serious fallacy of the Treasurer's policy. We tell him what the school-boy now knows, that the prosperity of a country depends upon its internal resources, and the development of them by wise legislation ; we tell him. further, boldly and fairly, that his budget is a mockery and a delusion, and will not bear examination; and we tell him, finally, that neither as far as regards figures, policy or prospects, is it worthy of that already ill-governed Province, Otago. It is only another proof that the present political system of New Zealand is unsuited for the times, and that rank folly will one day work its own cure—a land of wealth, a government of ineapables, and the result —nil.