A PERNICIOUS FALLACY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 13, 22 April 1871, Page 12

A PERNICIOUS FALLACY.

The opinion which has got abroad that the province is in an insolvent state because its revenue is unequal to its expenditure, and" the Government, as a consequence, is unable to meet its engagements, is one of the most absurd, false, unfounded, and pernicious notions that the human mind ever got hold of. How it originated is an important question, which is, however, fortunately susceptible of an easy explanation. The evils which must result from its propagation are too apparent. That it must have a very injurious effect on the immigration scheme of the Government, so far as this part of the colony is concerned, does not require to be pointed out; for who would immigrate to a province which is described as being on the verge of bankruptcy ? That it has had a most injurious effect on our railway prospects has been rendered manifest by the remarks made by the press and politicians of the South. They justly urge that if we cannot give security for the loan required for our railways we are not entitled to have them constructed at their expense. It is time that this false opinion relative to the solvency of the province was exploded. It is time that the public mind was aroused, so that it could see the true state of the province, and the bad effects which must result from the propagation of such fallacies regarding it. It is high time that the real authors of these fallacies were pointed out, that they may be prevented from doing any further mischief. The hustings speeches of the candidates for the Superintendency have tended to give a wider currency to the popular belief that the province is so overwhelmed with difficulties as to render it absolutely necessary for the General Government to at once rush to its rescue. But these speeches only gave expression to an opinion which had been previously widely promulgated. The course adopted by Mr Henry Bunny in the Council was well calculated, though of course not intended, to create a false opinion as to the true state of the province ; first, as intimating that it could not support its government; and, second, as indicating a desire to saddle on the colony the just liabilities of the province. But the party most to blame for its existence is the Provincial Executive itself; one of the members of which had notoriously too much private practice to enable him to attend properly to his official duties ; while the other deliberately engaged in another pursuit as if to show that his official duties were of not sufficient importance to command his undivided attention. Hence a Government so constituted has lacked alike the time, the courage, and the will either to utilise the provincial assets, or to augment* the provincial revenue; both of which courses were open to it, and either of which, we are prepared to prove, was quite easy of accomplishment. Pretending to have the command of the State vessel it has never once attempted to stem the adverse current, but allowed it to drift helplessly down the stream. Or, to use a 'figure more appropriate for our country readers, it has got the

provincial coach into the ruts of its own making, and hold on to the reins though it sees that it is in danger of being upset and dashed to pieces. Such a consumation is no doubt devoutly wished by those who do not see that *" our peculiar institutions" are peculiarly well adapted to meet the present requirements of the colony, and peculiarly well suited to the character and genius of the Anglo-Saxon race ; but a consummation to be earnestly avoided in the opinion of those who have faith in the resources of the province, who see no beauty in a rigid uniformity, and who desire the maintenance of one of the most formidable barriers to insular separation.