SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CRISIS.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 634, 12 May 1852, Page 4

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CRISIS.

[From the "Sydney Herald," March 27.] The Lieutenant- Governor of South Australia has issued a minute, dated 22nd February, explanatory of the course which his Excellency has deemed it his duty to adopt in the present extraordinary crisis of the affairs of that colony. The collapse of the social fabric caused by the migration of one-half of the adult male population to the Victoria diggings, and the sudden and alarming falling off in the demand for articles of consumption, and consequent stoppage of the colonial revenue, which was chiefly derived from import duties, are set forth in this document in clear and precise terms ; and Sir Henry Young proceeds to show the imperative necessity of large reductions in the Government expenditure ; and of the exercise of the most rigid economy by all classes of persons, as the only means whereby the disastrous effects of the gold mania can be mitigated. The minute appears to have been drawn up in reply to certain memorials from Gawler Town, Mount Barker, Willuaga, sotting forth the migration of the majority of the male adults from those districts, and the alarm felt at the reduction of the mounted police force, and at the insecurity of life and property which is expected to ensue. Sir Henry expresses his desire that an enlightened public opinion should be brought to bear on nil public measures, and submits his reasons for effecting the great reductions in the public expenditure and particularly in the department of the mounted police, which are stated to be not the result of caprice, nor of parsimony, nor of panic, on the part of the local Government but to have been imperatively called for by the actual state of public affairs in the colony. Before the gold discovery, the number of souls composing the population of South Australia was, in round numbers, 70,000, of which 22,000 were adult males. The ordinary Government expenditure appeal^ to have been about £140,000; whilst the regular expenditure of the Burra Burra, the Patent Copper, and other Mining Companies, amounted to £350,000 making a total of nearly £500,000. This gross expenditure Sir Henry estimates must be reduced to a sum of £184,000, viz., by the local Government £64,000, and by the Mining Companies £120,000, — owing to the migration above alluded to, coupled with the drain of two-thirds of the coined money of the colony, and a fall of at least seventy-five" per cent, in rents of all kinds, occasioned by the gold panic. The total receipts by the Government from the Ist of January to the date of His Excellency's minute have been only £8000 ; and a financial deficiency is expected to ensue, notwithstanding the immense reduction of the expenditure, from £140,000 to £64,000. The surplus revenue of the year 1851 having been expended for various purposes with the sanction of the Legislative Council is not available to meet the anticipated deficiency ; and unless an increased revenue should be created by additional taxation, " it is utterly impossible," says Sir Henry, " even if it were desirable, _ to maintain the Government expenditure at its former amount, or at any other amount than that frugal extent to which it is necessarily limited, by the amount, for the time being, of its current receipts." Sir Henry, moreover, anticipates that so far from its being probable that the Legislature will sanction additional taxation, the present limited Government expenditure will be acquiesced in, with all its temporary inconveniences. The minute then refers to the measures proposed to be adopted for the protection of life and pro,perty, namely, the enlistment of special constables and the periodical patrolling of the various districts ; concluding as follows :—: — Express my firm conviction that self-reliance, forbearance to others, and rigid economy, are more effectual and honourable means of supporting a time of depression, and contributing to a return of prosperity, than are any exaggerated statements, however undersigned, of fanciful dangers, or any regrets for police services for many years non-existent— recently supplied because oJ a floxirishing revenue, and capable of being restored only with a future restoration of financial prosperity. An overland route— a navigation of the River Murray by steamers, European and inter-colonial steam communication, in short a practical federation of the interest of the Australian provinces, will it is to be reasonably hoped, in addition to the elements of prosperity which are inherent in the agricultural and mineral character of this province — speedily cause the present crisis to pass away, and will produce such a reflux of capital and labour as cannot fail to secure to South Australia a more flourishing position than it has ever I yet attained. The remedies suggested in the last paragraph of the Lieutenant-Governor's minute, are somewhat remote ; but there can be no doubt that in immediately reducing his out-goings to something like his probable receipts, Sir Henry Young has acted with far better judgment than if he had attempted to bolster up the social edifice by continuing a large government expenditure, with a greatly diminished revenue, and thus involving the colony in special financial difficulties, the effect of which would have been to aggravate the evils under which it now labours. In the course ho has pursued, and in the principles he has avowed, the Lieutenant-Governor has, we opine, proved himself a better economist than did the Members of the Legislature in their recent ill-considered measures staying the immigration of the population, by giving a fictitious value to the produce of the mines by way of decoy. The ultimate effect of the Act establishing an assay office in Adelaide, and fixing an arbitrary price, in paper, for an article necessarily subject to the fluctuations of a widely extended market, will simply be to depreciate the convertible value of that paper, and not to raise the convertible value of gold. The measure is contrary to the first principles of political economy. It defeats its own object ; and we doubt whether it will be productive of anything but injury to the interests of South Australia. It is a matter of wonder that Sir Henry Young who, acting by himself, appears to act upon sound economical principles, should have lent the authority of his name to a measure, the efficacy of which he certainly doubted, and which can only be looked upon as a delusion, a mockery, and" a snare.

The present calamity of South Australia is one of those dispensations of Divine Providence which the ingenuity of man would vainly seek to arrest. However we may deplore the individual suffering which has been brought on by the sudden discovery of new sources of wealth, and the general disturbance of the relations between man and man, consequent thereon — however we may sympathise with the distress of those whose bread depended upon Government expenditure, and whose prospects were involved in the maintenance of the status quo, we should fail in our public duty if for one moment we should lend our aid to veil the stern reality, or approve any measures but those dictated by common honesty and common sense. Sir Henry Young's proceedings have been found fault with by a portion of the local press. It h easy to find fault, but it is not so easy to suggest an alternative. We do not profess to approve all the acts of a remote Government, whose private motives we have no means of becoming acquainted with. But with reference to the immediate subject of his Excellency's minute, we again repeat that the LieutenantGo vernor of South Australia has taken the course least open to exception, and most consistent with justice, with honesty, and with truth.