Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPT. 1, 1896. The Loan Bill.

Manawatu Herald, 1 September 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPT. 1, 1896. The Loan Bill.

The successors to the late Mr Ballance's Government, though pro fessing to walk in his footsteps, that of self-reliance, have, notwithstand ing their professions, heen doing nothing else but borrow, borrow, and borrow. Of course they have avoided borrowing openly on the London market, but the works carried out were not done for nothing, and the revenue has not been elastic enough to supply the necessary surplus, so electors must see that money ha* had to be obtained from aoma other source. One we know of. that of the sinking funds of the local bodies, and those who dwell in the country may as well bear in mind that at. present they are paying a certain percentage for the loans obtained from the Government, which includes a sum of one per cent, suppoaed to be set aside as a sinking fund, so that in 26 years the local bodies shall be free of debt. Now, as a fact , the ratepayers answerable for the. repayment of these loans are in no great hurry to repay, and a longer term than 26 years would suit them better, providing there wa9 a corresponding diminition in the interest. If the Government do not see the necessity of there being a sinking fund established, surely the ratepayers burden of taxation should bt> released ; but, it appears, the Go vernment finding this tax comes more especially from landholders, choses to keep the interest up, and uses the one per oent to carry on public works. This is truly not, borrowing, but should be styled by a word used by an old parliamentary hand "a seizure." The Government hare introduced a Loan Bill, have christened it a Bill to raise money for public works. Funny gentlemen are these who think the words signify anything else but a loan. We are all said to have our funny little ways, and we must credit the above title as being an example of one of the Government's funny little ways of trying to delude tht electors. This Loan Bill was debated the other night in the House, and the peculiar views of the Premier were exposed by our representative, Mr J. G. Wilson. In speaking on the Bill, Mr Wilson brought up the extremely unjust action ot the Pre raier in stopping the expenditure of outside capital in the construction of the Levin Greatford railway. The Premier, in his usual manner, en flavoured to force members to vote for the Bill by the statement that unless it was carried all work would be stopped, but Mr Wilson showed that had he really been so desirous of giving labour employment, he could easily have done so months ago, by a stroke of his pen, consent ing to the proposed railway being carried out. This line hls-o would have introduced into the Wellington district as much money a* the Premier, under the Lo&n Bill, proposes to expend on all the railways in the colony, and it would have had this advantage, that he would not have added to the debt of the colony, so that those who would not receive a share of the expenditure would not have incurred a share of the taxation. We are glad to notice atao that Mr Wilson let the House know, what the Premier has been told time and again, that the construction of this railway from Levin to Greatfotd would not only have been of very much service to the travelling public generally, but would have been of great bwtft to ev«iy settler oorib of

Greatford, as the railway freights to Wellington would have been reduced by 20 miles. But Mr Wilson further explained that to the two local bodies — the Manawatu County and the Borough of Foxton — would have received much immediate benefit from this expenditure, as the company would have paid a large sum for the acquisition of the rights held by these bodies, which would have meant a reduction in the rates paid, or a larger expenditure on roads and bridges. We may instance the fact that owing to the failure of the com* pany being able to conclude these arrangements the Manawatu County has had to go in for a £6000 loan. There is one important point which Mr Wilson also brought out clearly, and that is, the money raised under thi3 Loan Bill will be spent partly on railways and partly on roads to open up mining districts. Mr Wilson fairly argued that those districts requiring roads should open up their land as we have had to do on this coast, by borrowed money, for which the persons interested have to pay. It will thus be seen that Mr Wilson has made a very fair representation of the feeling of the settlers in his electorate, and for which we are obliged.