THE FINANCIAL SITUATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 33, 10 February 1868, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL SITUATION.

To ths Editok or the Nelson Evening Mail. Sir —ln my last I proved, beyond the chance of dispute, that, taken away the producing classes of a countryj and every pursuit in life is stopped; and that the only way total annihilation could be averted in such a case would be by some of the non producing classes leaving their shops, or their offices, or their pleasures^ and turning to to dig the soil, tend the herds, milk the cows and churn the cream, and so commence the work of production afresh, and in so doing set all the other classes of the community busy again. What is true of killing a man outright, is true of wounding, or maiming him to the extent he is disabled, and just in proportion as the producing classes are disabled and hindered by unjust or unwise legislation, just iu that proportion will the effects of utterly destroying the producing classes of a country which I have endeavored to describe, and which no one in his senses can deny, just in proportion I say, as they are disabled and their prosperity hindered by bad legislation, will these effects be felt, and although annihilation of all the other classes will not follow, because you have only scotched, and not killed the producers, still the never ending snd wearisome complaints, so familiar to us all, will be, as they are at this moment, rife throughout the land, of 'dull times,' 'bad trade/ 'no money stirring/ and the like. Having settled this much in reference to the vital importance of the producing classes, let me endeavor to still further support this view by showing the less vital importance of the non-producing classes. We have seen how all-important labor and industry are to the well-being of a country, now let me show of how much less importance to the existence of a country are intelligence and capital as represented in the non-producing classes. Of course, if the shopkeepers and the merchants and the clerks and officials and merely 'ornamental and genteel" people were taken away, great inconvenience would be felt, but still nothing fatal would occur; and if even all the money were