Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 241, 2 December 1880, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1880.

-- »Thb mere mention of the word "repudiation" in connection with the pnblic debt of the colony is calculated to do an immensity of harm to New Zealand in England, where there are many, who, for a variety of purposes, areonlyltoo ready to seize upon and .exaggerate anything that is likely to'lower .our: credit in the money market. On the other hand the indignant protest that has T>een raised throughout the length and breadth of. the colony against the bare suggestion of anything so disgraceful will have the effect of convincing the public creditors that the idea would never be seriously entertained for one moment in a colony which, in the first place, has far too high a sense of honor to i desire-to, avoid its just debts, and, in the next, is not yet — nor is there a chance of such a contingency being probable — reduced »to such a position aa to be unable to meet its liabilities. The Otago Daily Times has taken this matter up very warmly, and in an exhaus ! tive article shows very clearly that the colony is, and is likely to remain, perfectly solvent. J?rom this article we mate the following extract, which should be thoroughly reassuring to any who might have felt any alarm on the subject':— "The annual interest and sinking fund of our public debt is, in round figures, ,£1,500,000. Of this sum, £300,000 at least "will this year be earned by our railways, •leaving £1,200,000, or just £2 10s per bead of the population (now estimated at 470,000) to be provided for by taxation. Prior to the - initiation of the Public Works policy, ;the interest on the pubiio debt, General and Provincial, was about £450,000, and the population about 270,000. No one then saw any danger of repudiation, or doubted for a moment that we could bear that weight, and all the burdens imposed by eight Provincial Councils besides. We are within the mark in saying that 30s per head of the population bad then to be paid away in interest." Wool was at its lowest, and gloom and disaster hung over the mercantile community. Most of the squatters, were ruined, and every industry in the country suffered with themi Now all is different The squatters are wealthy, we have a large class of yeomen, a still larger class of successfully striving small farmers, our mercantile and manufacturing classes have increased greatly, Jboth in number and in wealth, and our annual produce has increased in even greater ratio than our population. As a penalty for •'ppr /extravagance we have to pay— how

much? Just one pound per head, more than, in 1870. This is the length and breadth of our disabilities in consequence of the Public Works policy." With carefulness arid economy, and abstention from further borrowing for a few years,thereislittlereasonto fear even the semblance of an approach to colonial bankruptcy, and it will not be long ere New Zealand, having passed through her period of temporary embarrassment, will_ be able to look back with a smile upon the time when her name and " repudiation " were even mentioned in the same breath. ■ - ■■■■ ■TIT I TT" ~-"-