The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1885. CONTEMPORARY OPINION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1579, 11 December 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1885. CONTEMPORARY OPINION.

«, Thk Sydney Daily Telegraph com meiiting on the late speeches of Sir Julius Yogel and the Hon. Mr Stout, says: — We must confess that when we read these speeches they seena to ns more fatally discouraging than any amount of depression : The danger to thu v itieufc is not the malady from which he is suffering, but which the strength of his constitution would enable him m time to shake off. His peril ia m the noatrurn* which political quackery is offering him as a medicine. Surely there must be a lurge number of people m New Zealand who can see that the only genuine remedy against the consequences of past extravagance is present retrenchment, against the difficulty imposed by debt is the resolution to borrow no wore or as little as posßible.and against the depression of the leading industries due to fall m the prices of their produces to reduce m every wi>/ thejcost of production ; an end \.t> be reached rather by lightening t» xa tion than increasing it. With wh*» c feelings must tiiey see the Minister'" charge of their finances tell them that the beat remedy against the ejects of over-bor-rowing is to borrow more, against overspending is to vpend more, and against depression is the increase of taxation ? And above nil, what must bo their reflec tion« when the Treasurer complacently assures them that the restraints of Par liament on the Govcrnmont are all ineffective, and that if they can raise the money they do not care what were the purposes to which Parliament restricted its application ? In private life we all know the inevitable termination of such a financial career as ?hat here outlined. We shall watch with interest for the saving conditions which will yet, we hope, save New Zealand from such a caUs- [ trophe.