YE LEGEND OF YE LOAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 175, 24 July 1880, Page 4

YE LEGEND OF YE LOAN.

An Allegory. (Prom the New Zealand "Mail.") Odco upon q time there lived a young farmer tailed N. Z. Bull. He was a yourjger sod of J. Bull, the great manufacturer. A sturdy, handsome youth, in thape and make the very image of li is father. Finding the old people Hither slow, he left home to sef.k his fortune, and after truvelliug a loDg way he came to a Vulu&ble piece of was to land, which nobody seemed to cure about, there beiDg only a few gipsies camped in a forest no*r the centre. 80 ho toek posaeeeion, cultivated, and brought up a f.jmi'y vety happily iv a plain way. At this time there lived hard by a very clfver man calied Moas. Oiseau, ['* Ois?au " is the French, and " Yogel " the German for a bird.] •'who taught aiid (he great art nf borrowing. 1 ' Whether fiom teaching »ho art too much, or practising ie 100 little, or vice versa, ho was uoi very successful in life. So huariog that, N. Z Bull had r nice (arm, Oiseau came to see him. N. Z was oharmed to receive a gentleman who talked so well, and they became such grtat friends that he consulted Oiseau about all his tiff urs, anJ the latter gave him gratis (at firs-) lessons in toe " art.*' ''My dear friend," he sai i, "you will be a tremendouD tiaie digging all this ground by yourself. Why don*t you get the old people to lend you teu millions, so thai you can dig it up all ut onef — diain it, feuce it, and make oico paths (0 wn'k on ? ' Said N. Z. dubiously : " How am I to pay the 'interest and priucipal ' back again ? " 11 Principal ! Pboo 1 My dear fellow, one of the first principles of the new economy is, that * principals are never repaid ! ' and as for the interest, I will \ show you a * set of tables ' by which 'reproductive works' infallibly pay for themselves. Think,. my dear friend v what a gloriouß thing it would be to get a lot of money out, and tools, and carjs, and laborers, and turn the whole thing at once into a smiling paradise, full of happy inhabitants, looking up to you (and me) as benefactors! Why, you would soon be as big a man as your father, and all the world would say, was there ever such 0 wonderful fellow as N. Z. Bull, and such a clever teacher as Mons. Oiseau ? ' They were both affected to tears at the prospect, and Bull agreed to try, the old people with a loan of four million at first, so as not to frighten them. Now N. Z, brought up his family on strict commercial prinoiplee, " every one on bis own book," and bad given his children plots of land to cultivate for themselves, so when the family heard what was going on, they determined to look after. tbeir "local interest " before giving consent. The eldest boy, who was intellectual, but not quite so shrewd as Sandy, and sons of the others, was the first to hear of the scheme. " Noble youth," said jOisecfU, I know you are above caring for pretty walks or many carts and horses on your ground, especially as it is rather rough. You shall bear us all talk, and you shall have an " institute," where you can learn the simplest " raanifoldnees of two dimensions." So be went away quite satisfied. The youngest boy, who was very fond of digging holes for golJ, insisted on a supply of water, so, to bis delight, he was promised 100!) beautiful large pipes laid down on his around to carry water at an expense of £100 each. The eldest daughter, who was always

nervous about the (Sipsies, was con- ) ciliated by a promise that a road should 1 be made.to, their ea,mp, and thnt large 1 quantities of "sugar and blankets" " should be piven to her to distribute emong the Gipsies, and no tjucßtions , aoktid. 1 She consented at onpe, for she was very- fond of sugnr and blankejs heivself. At last they were all satiefied, but ; how much Handy got cone rt the others, knew far a long time. It wesa great denl. Old John sod .his people were very much delighted et N. Z.'b pluck,- eijd lent tbo money 80 willingly that he was sorry be had not aeked for more, bo he a^ked very soon after egaio o.n.d again utiiil be got the whole .£10,000,000, and a good deal more. Meanwhile tbe laborers came out, and plenty of tools and carts, and N. 2. was so busy thnthe had lo hire 10,853 young men (o keep the accounts and look alter his ivoik. "This is eplendid," Baid hp, "I never feel the loss of the interest. It ie simply deducted from the latest loan, and when this is fiuiebed I'll ask for more." But he was not realty much better off, for after feeding all the extra house servunis and the 10 853 young men "who produoed cothing,*' he had left ve.i;y.little,oiore corn and .wool to send lo lub f^her iiban b,.efpr.e he got the £10,(00.000, which wan *a very bad sign. By and bye came a time of great depression. The loan wes nearly ail expemied, and the £1,500,000 interest could not very well be tiken out of the principal, or it would have swallowed if. N. ££. became much troubled over his affairs, and di.i not know whit to do uext to find enough money to pay the in:ereßt, for his father was very particular and oil fashioneJ in business, and would take no paper promises, an.}, indeed, no<hing but gold. Now N» % had only £3,000,000 of specie in the houso to do bis own business t\Ut', nnd little enough too he found it, and (he only way be could find gold was by seliiog his corn and wool through his father and converting that into gold that was for sale there and payiog the interest, When he came to look into the matter he found that the family, the laborers, and the 10,853 young men, gave away so much of the corn and wpol (produced by the Ifabjretja) in exchange for clothes, jewellery, spirits, tobacco, and othur luxuries, th*t there wa3 nod enough left to pay the interest, and he was very sad. " REtRBNOHMBSfT, ' Which wasvery funoy (o hear, for none of them had exactly the Barae meaning for the word. One whispered, "Pay the old man £1,000,000, and quite enough for him too." Another said, "Sell all the parts that bring dowa the corn and wool for gold at home, and let a company work it." Others said, " Raise the cartage and put a tax on everything.' Bat these latter were silly people, who did not see where the difficulty lay, viz, that N.Z. must either fijd £1,500,000 in solid gold in the ground and send it to his father, or an equivalent in produce convertible into the gold required. He could not find nearly as much gold in the ground as be wanted, pnd he dared not send BDy of the £3/000,000 " local currency " away as that wojld have caused great distress. Some said— "Dismiss half the i 0,853 young men, dismiss your servant, and coachman ! " and nope of them .seemed to see that indiscriminate dismissal was absurd, because some of these persons were earning the wool and corn wanted by carrying, it to the ship, and in various ways, while others were not. In short, none of these friends seemed able to distinguish between the cutting down of " productive expenditure " and "unproductive expenditure." Now N.Z. was-.perfectly well able to pay what he owed without selling his farm or even his working plant. He determined to listen to n,o financial doctors, but to act with plain common sense. So he said to his family and people :— . "Consume less spirits, tobacco, clothing, and other luxuries^ and .thus — reduce unproductive imports of manufactured goods." " Make your own clothes, anpl everything you absolutely need that you can make as cheaply as you can import; and thus-Tr-' Encourage local industries' and the import of ' raw material,' hot procurable on your land." Employ more labor to sow more corn, to attend to more sheep, and to carry .the products more cheaply to market, and thus increase your produc- i tive expenditure, and consequently greatly increase your " exports." Dismiss those persons who produce nothing, but merely contribute to luxury